Teaching women how to turn their blogs into profitable businesses!

How to Get Tons of Blog Traffic from Social Media....

without getting sucked into it all day!

Do you find yourself posting a lot on Facebook and pinning a ton on Pinterest without getting the results you want? Are you tired of going around in circles on social media and getting sucked into it all day? My super helpful guide will tell you everything you need to know on how to get traffic the RIGHT way from social media...without being on it all day!!!

1. Pre-Test Your Own Products

One of the best ways to make money online is to create your own products. I absolutely love selling my own products for three reasons. First, I keep 100% of the profits. Not bad right?! Second, I control all sales and the products itself. Third, it is super rewarding to create something from scratch that helps people.

But I also know that it can be scary to sell your own products. What if you put all this hard work into it and no one buys it?

It’s soul crushing and it happens. It has happened to me.

My Fantastic Freebies course was first created for real estate agents. I had a ton of success with landing pages and created a course to teach Realtors how to do it. I had everything set up perfect. I wrote blog posts about the subject. I created freebies around the topic. I then presented and awesome webinar about landing pages. At every turn people told me how awesome I was and how great the content was.

Then I went to sell the course during my webinar.

And not one single person bought it.

Soul crushing. Curl up in a ball and cry on your husband’s shoulder, soul crushing.

So yeah, I’ve been there. I have created a course and watched it flop. But you know what? I learned more from that experience than I did the ones where I was successful.

Instead of staying in the fetal position, I drug myself up by the bootstraps and took a look at what I did wrong.

The biggest mistake I made? I didn’t pre-test the course. I didn’t find out before I created it, if anyone wanted the course. I could have saved myself a lot of time and heartache by running a pre-test. The pre-test would have shown me if anyone was even interested in this subject.

So I went back to the drawing board. I asked my email readers if they were interested in a course like this and what they would want to see in it. I asked in real estate Facebook groups if this would be something they would like.

When I got my feedback I went back and tweaked my approach. I started over with a lot more knowledge in my pocket.

I did the webinars again based off this new information and pitched my new course. Over the course of the next few months, I made a little over $12,000 on that one course.

Yes, it pays to pre-test!

I have seen so many online business owners create a course that nobody wanted. They worked their tails off, created amazing content, and then no one bought it. I have seen online business owners quit over this and who can blame them. It hurts.

But they all made one fatal flaw. They didn’t pre-test their idea. They didn’t ask their audience what they wanted or if they would pay for a course like theirs. They assumed they knew what people wanted and were bitterly disappointed when it didn’t work.

The easiest way to not have this happen to you is to take time and run a simple pre-test. Get your idea validated before you sink your heart and soul into it!

Action Step: Create a list of ideas that you could turn into an ebook, a membership site, a course, or a service. The simplest one to start with is an ebook or a service. Then post this question to your email subscribers: “Would you be interested in a course/service/ebook about X topic? What would you like to see included about this topic?” Pre-test and validate your idea before you create one piece of content for your product or service!

2. Decide on What to Create

Now that you have some ideas of what your readers want you to create, it’s time to create it! This is where the fun starts– you are on your way to creating your very first product!

The first thing you will want to decide is what kind of product you are going to create. Are you going to create a service? Write an ebook? Create a course? Here are the pros and cons of each.

eBook

Pros:

Super easy to start with to create your first product.

Usually less time consuming than a course or membership site.

It won’t cost you a lot of money to get started.

Great way to test the waters to see if people will buy from you.

Opens the potential to turn it into a course for more profit.

eBooks are easy to scale. You can create passive income through your courses.

Cons:

Typically you can’t charge as much for an eBook as you could a course, services, or a membership site.

Course

Pros:

Typically sell for a higher dollar amount so there is potential for greater profit.

More in depth way of helping your readers solve a problem.

Not overly expensive to get started with courses.

Courses are easy to scale. You can create passive income through your courses.

Cons:

Creating courses can be more time consuming.

There are more technical details involved with creating a course.

Services (Coaching, Virtual Assistant, Consulting, Freelancing)

Pros:

You get the chance to work one-to-one doing impactful work with your clients.

In most cases you can charge more for services than you can eBooks, courses or membership sites.

It is inexpensive to get started with offering services.

Cons:

You are trading dollars for hours. It is harder to scale with services.

You will need to find time in your schedule to work with your clients and work on your business.

Membership Site

Pros:

There is a recurring revenue model with membership sites.

You have the opportunity to really get to know the people you are helping.

You aren’t constantly launching and re-launching your products.

Cons:

There is a lot of upfront work to launch a membership site.

There are a lot of technical details to figure out for the software, plugins, etc.

It is more time consuming than creating a course or eBook.

There is no right way to get started when it comes to launching your first product. I have tried a mix of all the above before I settled on how I want to make money in my business.

But I will tell you, the first thing I started with was an eBook and I am so glad I did. When I first sold Find Your Tribe Online, it was an eBook for $7. The reason I started with an eBook at such a low cost is because I wanted to test the waters. I wanted to see if people would buy from me. It is a lot easier to crash and burn on a $7 eBook that took a week to put together, than a $67 course that took months to put together.

Starting small gave me the confidence that I could create a product that my audience needed. It gave me the confidence that they would buy from me. It gave me the confidence that I could actually make money online!

Action Step: Based on your research from your pre-test, decide on the type of product you will create. Remember you can always start small to build your confidence. Then grow your products as your confidence and your business grows!

3. Create Your Product

The Writing Process

A question I get asked all the time is how do you find the time to write your books or courses? My answer: you have to make it a priority.

When I am writing a book or a course, it is my number one focus. I lay out everything I have to complete for the product, and then I create a schedule to get it done. I aim to work on it for at least 2 hours every day. If I can sneak away from home for a weekend to work on it even better.

When I am writing my course or book, other things will give and that’s okay. I don’t write blog posts. I am not as active on social media. My 100% focus is on creating my new product. That’s the only way I can get it done!

Resources

Another question I get asked a lot is what tools do I use for creating and hosting my products? Here are a few of my favorite resources:

Canva: Canva is what I use to make everything look pretty. I will sometimes create content for my eBooks in Canva too.

Thrive Landing Pages: I create all my sales pages using Thrive. I get a ton of compliments on them so I know it works! Thrive is an easy-to-use WordPress plugin that makes creating a landing page easy peasey.

SendOwl: I am a huge fan of SendOwl! I used SendOwl to host my eBooks. All I had to do was connect SendOwl to PayPal and upload my eBook. From there I was given a link that I put on my sales page and I was ready to sell!

Teachable or Thinkific: Teachable and Thinkific are great options for hosting your courses. For a nominal fee they take care of hosting your course and payments for your course.

LifterLMS: If you are techy and stubborn like me, LifterLMS is an awesome option for creating your own platform to host your courses and eBooks. I host all mine on a separate WordPress site using the LifterLMS plugin.

Creating your first product is so much fun! It’s exciting to know you are creating something that is going to help people. The anticipation of creating something from your own brain that will make you money. It is just fun!

Yes it is a lot of work. And like creating an opt-in offer, there will be a lot of trial and error. But I promise you the rewards are well worth it!

Price it Out

One question that I see asked all the time is “what do I price my product or service at?”

First, there is no right or wrong price. Your clients will tell you what they are willing to pay for your product.

But you do have to start somewhere. What I do is research what similar products are selling for in my niche. For example, if other bloggers are selling their courses at $67, I would be selling myself short if I sold my course for $17. On the other hand, if other bloggers are selling courses at $67 and I price mine at $247, I might price myself out of the market.

Do research and then try out a number that feels good to you. You won’t know what people are willing to pay unless you put it out there!

Action Step: Map out your plan to create your first product. First, decide what it will be. Second, create a schedule for creating content for your product. Third decide on a sales system (Thrive, SendOwl, etc.) Fourth, start creating with a firm deadline to get it done!

4. Launch Your Product

Ah, launching a product. There’s nothing quite like that adrenaline rush! The thrill of possibility. The thrill of hundreds of people buying it. The thrill of creating something that will really help people.

Yup, I love launching!

But there is a science to a successful launch. I’ve had good launches, mediocre ones, and really bad ones. The key to a great launch is preparing yourself and your audience.

Here’s a few examples of a flat or mediocre launch:

You create your product and share it with your email list one time. No follow-up, no deadlines. Just an email saying “hey, here’s my product, buy it now!”

You create a product and share it only on your Facebook page. Same idea as above. You share it once and ask people to buy it. No follow-up or deadlines.

You share your product all over Facebook groups for their promo days. You hope that your one post will be enough for people to buy it.

Host a webinar to sell your product and only a few show up because they didn’t get email reminders about the webinar.

You will start to think there is something wrong with your product. And then you go down the rabbit hole in your mind. The rabbit hole that looks like this:

“If there is something wrong with my product, there is something wrong with my business, and I should quit.”

Dramatic?

Yes.

But it is real. I have seen it happen to people I care about. I have seen people make these mistakes when launching their products.

The truth is, there was nothing wrong with their products. In fact they were perfectly great! It’s that their strategy to launch them wasn’t that great.

I think people do these sort of half-launches for one of two reasons:

They aren’t sure how to launch their product.

They are scared to put their product out there.

Both these reasons are legitimate! If you have never launched a product before how do you know what you are supposed to do? How do you know that you are supposed to do lead-ins to launch day and follow-up emails after? If you aren’t experienced in sales you may think all you have to do is announce your product once and the money will roll in. (Not so much by the way.)

The other reason people have these half-launches is because they are scared. They are scared to put themselves out there. They are scared if they put themselves out there no one will buy. They are scared to fail. They are scared people will buy it and say it isn’t good.

So the easier thing to do is to half-launch it, not expecting it to go anywhere. That way you don’t have to live with the disappointment of it not working out.

How do I know all this? Because I have been there.

Because I have been scared and done a half-launch. And it sucked.

So what can you do to overcome either not knowing how to launch or to get past the fear?

First, you educate yourself. Educate yourself on every aspect about how to launch a product.

Second, you punch fear in the face and you jump off the cliff.

Then you come up with a plan on how to launch your first product. My pre-launch plan usually goes something like this:

Determine launch date so I can work backwards and publish content.

Write at least 3 blog posts before launch date about the topic I am covering in the product.

Create an opt-in offer for those blog posts that coincides with the blog posts and the products.

Do at least 6 Facebook Lives in my Women Winning Online Facebook group about the topic.

Share 1-3 tips a day on my social media sites about the topic.

Make sure I am consistently emailing my list every week with tons of value.

Write 1-3 guest posts about the topic, time permitting.

Doc Facebook group promo days and share only my opt-in offers to help grow my email list ahead of the launch.

In my previous business, I have also used Facebook ads to help me have more success with my launch. Facebook ads, when done right, will help you reach a ton of people. But done wrong, they can cost you a small fortune!

I do all the pre-launch work to warm up my audience to my new product. I work to educate them and answer any questions they may have about the topic. Then comes the launch! My launch strategy looks something like this:

Do a webinar about the product.

Send initial email about the product. Offer a special price only good for the next 5-7 days.

Announce the product in my Facebook group.

Wait 2 days, send 1st follow-up email asking if people have questions about the product.

Share a post or do a Facebook Live asking for any questions about the product.

Wait 2 more days, send 2nd email talking about the benefits of the product.

Share a post or do a Facebook Live discussing the benefits of the product.

Wait 2 more days, send 3rd email explaining how it will help my readers.

Send final email with price going up announcement.

Share final Facebook post about the price going up for the product.

As you can see, launching a product is INTENSE! But there’s a wrong way and a right way to do it. The effort you put in is the results you can expect to see. If you do a half-launch, you will see lackluster results. If you put in your all when you launch, your hard work will pay off with sales!

Action Step: Before you launch your product create a launching plan. Schedule it at least 30 days out from your actual launch date. This will give you enough time to warm up your audience and show them you are here to help!

5. Get More Sales

After the big launch is over take a day or two and give yourself a break. Launching is hard work! You deserve to put your feet up with a good book and a glass of wine. This is true whether you made 1 sale or 100.

Once your break is over, it is time to evaluate what worked and what didn’t work. What you could do better and what went right this time.

Then it is time to go out there and get more sales!

The key to making consistent income every month is to come up with a plan to bring in new sales. You have to go out there and find your people. You can’t sit back and hope people will show up to your site and buy. You have to create a plan of how to attract people to your site and your products.

Here are some ideas on how you can consistently bring in sales every month on your products:

Opt-in offer + tripwire. Offer people a special deal right after they sign up for your freebie. I do this on the thank you page after someone signs up.

Opt-in offer + sales funnel. Offer people a special deal via email.

Guest posts about your product.

Pinterest pins that lead to your product, tripwire, and sales funnel.

Sharing in Facebook groups on promo days

Sharing on your social media sites a few times a week.

Offering discounts every month

Exclusive offer to email subscribers only.

Including it in your weekly email to your subscribers.

Action Step: This step is all about experimenting! Pick three ideas and create a plan of how you are going to bring in new sales every month. Work on the three ideas consistently until they are bringing in sales for your business. Then experiment with more ideas!

In Conclusion

Making money from your own products is a great way to turn your blog into a profitable business. You are helping people succeed through something you created from your own brain! To me that’s a win-win! Plus the added benefit is you control the product 100% and get 100% of the profits. Not bad right?!

To create your own product, follow these steps, and you are sure to have a hit on your hands!

Pre-test Your Ideas

Decide What to Create

Start developing your own ebooks or courses

Launch/Pick a launch date for your first course or book

Continue to grow your business by adding more people to your funnel

What are your thoughts on creating your first product? Does it excite you or overwhelm you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below! Thank you for commenting!

How to Launch Your First Blogging Product was last modified: August 25th, 2017 by Jen Snyder

Alright my awesome blogging business owner, are you ready to really make money on your blog? Heck yes you are!

In the first post in this series, I told you about what you need to do to get ready to make money blogging. Now let’s talk about how to actually start making sales. You know, actual $$$.

In this post I am going to share with you exactly what I did to start making a full time income from my blogging business. This post is all about finding your people and giving to them before asking. It is also about getting comfortable with that one “s” word. It is about getting started with the easiest way to start making money online.

Let’s get serious and make some money my friend!

1. Find Your People

In the last post, you defined who your ideal client is. You know what she needs, what she wants. You know what she struggles with and what her dreams are.

You know a lot about her, now it’s time to go find her!

This part of the process is so important. You can’t just blog, hope people will find you, and then buy your stuff. “Build it and they will come” is so cute for a Hollywood script. But it doesn’t work for business and it won’t work for yours.

So where do you find your people? You go where they are hanging out online!

If you want to make money from your business you have to go out there and find people to actually buy from you. If you don’t find your people, you can’t make sales. You can’t make money. It’s as simple as that.

Now I don’t want you to get overwhelmed by this. I am not telling you to go to every website on that list and start interacting with your potential readers.

Whew right?!

Who has time for that?!

What I am saying is pick your top 1-2 sites and work on connecting with people that way. A a blogger, you must start with Pinterest. Pinterest will drive traffic to your site even when you aren’t promoting it.

After you have mastered your top 2 sites and seeing the results you want, move onto the next site on your list. But do not feel like you have to do it all at once. If you do that you will so get burnt out!

Action Step: Do some research and find out where your ideal clients are hanging out. Is it Pinterest or Facebook groups? Or is it actually LinkedIn. Do your research, then make a list of the sites you want to tackle. Make a plan of how you are going to do that! Remember, you can’t make money from your blogging business if you can’t find your people!

Are you struggling to find out where your people are hanging out online? Or do you not have time to do all that research? I hear you my friend! This is why I did it for you! Buy Find Your Tribe Online today and start connecting with your ideal client right now!

2. Give Lots of Value

Now that you have found your people, your new potential readers it’s time to give them tons of value. What is value? Such a loaded word right?!

Value is helping people. It is serving people. It is doing it all from the goodness of your own heart. And for free.

In a more tangible way, value is sharing blog and social media posts about your topic. It is tips to your audience that will help them grow. It is sharing other people’s blog posts that you know will help your audience. It is going into Facebook groups and answering questions.

Here’s an example of how you can create this “value” with your audience:

Go into three different Facebook groups in your niche. Look for questions that you can answer to help others in your niche. Do this at least 3 times a week.

Add tips to your Facebook page. Short 1-3 sentences that will help your readers.

Publish one blog post a week and share it on group boards in your niche.

Being consistent shows your new readers a few things. First that you know what you are talking about when it comes to your niche.

Second, that you care about your readers. That you are there to truly help them, not to only make money from them.

Third, it shows that you are someone they can count on. You are there day in and day out giving them information they need. The know you are someone they can trust. This is so important when building any kind of following online.

Giving lots and lots of value will help you to build your audience and grow your tribe. It will show them that you are serious about helping them. It will show them that you are the go-to expert when it comes to your niche. What a great combo right?!

Action Step: Get out a piece of paper or open a Google Doc. Brainstorm three ways you can help your audience today. Then add your ideas to your calendar so it actually gets done. Ideas for content are endless so don’t try to overdo it or you will get overwhelmed! Pick 3 ideas and start implementing right away!

3. Build Your Email List

Your email list is the key to growing your blogging business and making money online. Bloggers are always so surprised when I say this, but it is true!

Why is email so important? Especially in this social media day and age?

Because email is more personal. Yes we are making connections on social media. But email is where we are getting personal with our readers. I have gotten so many emails where people pour their hearts out to me and ask for help. This is not something most people feel comfortable doing over social media.

I liken this to going to a party. Let’s say you’re at a party with 100 people. You aren’t going to stand in the middle of the room and share about your marriage problems. Or that you’re $50,000 in debt or that your son is in therapy. Right? That would be uncomfortable, awkward, and embarrassing.

But you will stand in a corner and be honest with your closest friend. You will tell her what is really going on in your life– both good and bad. Why? Because you feel safe. You know she won’t judge you. You trust her.

See how that is for social media too? You aren’t going to go into a Facebook group of 1,000 people and share all your troubles. But you will share with one person over email because it feels safer.

The other reason an email list is so important is because there is less competition. For example, when you post on Facebook you are competing with so much noise. Funny cat videos, pictures of cute babies, and news from friends and family across the world. Plus don’t forget about the ads!

On email there is less competition. Yes, we get a ton of emails. But we have to do something with them right?! The key is to have a catchy subject line that will appeal to your readers. All you need to do is stand out and be consistent.

An email list helps you build your relationship with your readers. It will also help you sell your first products. But first you must start it and then SEND emails. You can’t only collect email addresses. You need to actually get in the habit of weekly sending out emails to your list.

This way they are connected to you and you aren’t only emailing them when you want them to buy something from you. We have all been on lists like that and it’s super annoying. It goes back to giving a ton of value before you ask for the sale.

Not sure what to send in your email newsletter? Check out my free email worksheet and be confident in sending out a newsletter people will love!

Action Step: The steps to building an email list look like this:

Decide on an email provider. I use and love ConvertKit. It is well worth the money!

Does building an email list overwhelm you? Are you not sure where to start? Check out my course Fantastic Freebies! I walk you through it all step-by-step!

4. Get Comfortable with the “S” Word

I am going to be bold with this next statement. If you can’t get comfortable with selling, you won’t ever make money blogging.

Ever.

I know this is a brutal statement, but I want to be 100% upfront and honest with you. Unless you can be okay with selling you will struggle to make money blogging.

I think the word sales has gotten an unfair rap in our culture. When we think of sales, we think of an icky used car salesman looking to sell us a car.

At least I did….until I married a guy that sold used cars.

My husband is a natural born salesman. He started his first sales gig selling Cutco knives on the streets of Chicago– the city, not the suburbs. Not an easy crowd to sell to by any means. He has sold everything from knives to Schwan’s food to cars.

He loves sales!

I know there are those of you reading this who are completely shuddering at the thought of loving sales. You are thinking how can he actually love sales?

Easy. It’s his perspective.

He loves helping people. He looks at selling as a way of helping people. Listening to their problems and helping them find a solution to it. This is why he could sell knives, cars, insurance, and really anything. He cares about helping people.

Now that’s interesting when you think about it that way isn’t it? Isn’t your blog founded on the same purpose? The purpose of helping people?

When you put it into perspective selling isn’t that much different than blogging. You are selling your blog posts when you write them. You are selling them when you pin them on Pinterest. You are selling them when you share them on Facebook group promo days.

You are selling already and you didn’t know it. Now you need to get comfortable putting a dollar amount to what you are selling. A lot of times this comes down to mindset and believing in yourself. Other times it comes down to educating yourself on something you don’t know how to do.

Are scared about the idea of selling anything on your blog either your product or someone else’s? It is time to punch fear in the face, and do it. I don’t know about you, but when I am scared I learn everything I can and then I jump in.

If you are scared or even the teeniest bit nervous about selling, get educated, and get out there and do it!

Action Step: If selling makes you nervous, first write one paragraph about why it scares you. Get all the icky and negative feelings out.

Next get educated! My husband recommends these four books for anyone that is nervous about selling:

I also have a friend that produces a podcast about sales called Sales Babble. Pat has great tips for overcoming the fear of sales!

5. Start with Affiliate Programs

The easiest way to start making money on your blog is through affiliate programs. First, you don’t have to create anything like an eBook or a course. Second, if you are nervous about sales, it is far easier to promote someone else’s product then it is your own.

I have to admit, the idea of affiliate sales completely stressed me out and overwhelmed me. How do you even start? Which ones do you choose? Amazon alone has millions of products you can sell and earn an affiliate commission.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by affiliate sales, try out my strategy. Pick 3-5 affiliate programs that match your niche. Don’t try to do them all. That’s where the overwhelm starts. Pick a few that solves your niches problem. Then go out there and promote them.

Create a resources page with all your favorite tools. Include links to your affiliate programs.

Send out an email to your list about the affiliate program and how it has helped you.

Create a social media post and share your testimonial about the affiliate program.

Create a freebie about the affiliate program. This could be a free workbook or cheatsheet about how to use the affiliate program.

Create a pin on Pinterest that leads to the affiliate program.

There are so many ways to make money through affiliate programs. The best part is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and create something from scratch. You can use someone else’s work and earn a commission promoting a product you love!

Action Step: Create a list of 3-5 affiliate programs you can start promoting today. Then next to each program, write down how you will promote them. Then schedule it into your calendar and start selling!

In Conclusion

In the second part of my series, “How to go from blog to profitable business” we covered how to:

actually find people to buy your products.

give value to your audience first.

build an email list.

get comfortable with that dreaded “s” word.

start making easy money through affiliate marketing.

In the final installment of this series, I am going to show you how to make money through your own products! Yay! I am going to show you how I have created eBooks and courses that have helped thousands of women. Products that have allowed me to go from hobby blogger to full time income blogger. If I can do it, I promise you, you can do it too! Stay tuned!

What do you think about these steps? How do you feel about the dreaded sales word? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Start a blog, reach thousands of people, and make tons of money. You can retire early, travel and live the life!

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?!

So you jump in with both feet. You are so excited! You are writing about a topic you love and are passionate about. You know the money is going to come in at any second.

But then it doesn’t. And you have no idea why. You are writing great posts, putting yourself out there, and even have ads on your site. Yet you are no closer to making money blogging than when you started.

Why aren’t you making money blogging if you are doing everything right?!

Because you are missing one key thing. One key ingredient to actually make money blogging.

A plan.

Wait what?! This isn’t business school. It’s blogging. Why do you need a plan?

Because if you don’t have an actual plan to make money you won’t in fact make money with your blog.

In this series, I am going to cover each step you need to take to turn your blog into a profitable blogging business. To take it from hobby to money. And the first steps start with you and getting your mindset straight. It starts with getting your brain ready to make money from your blogging business. Getting yourself ready to make your wildest dreams come true!

1. Blog or Business?

The first thing you have to decide is whether you want a blog or a business. A blog that makes money every once in a while is not a business and that’s okay. A business has goals with a plan and steps to meet those goals.

Whenever I do anything I like to start with the end in mind. What is my end goal? What results do I want to see? This is what you need to do when you start a blog. What is your end goal with your blog? What results do you want to see with your blog?

Did you start your blog:

So you can quit your job and blog full-time?

So you can retire early?

To pay off mounting credit card and student loan debt?

To help put your kids through college?

So you can live off the income from your blog and travel the world?

To retire your husband so he can work at home with you?

Then I have news for you. You have started a business, not a blog. Don’t be scared by this, it is exciting! I LOVE small business owners! They are some of the bravest and smartest people on the planet. You are one of them.

You have dreams and ambitions to do more than settle for a ton of debt. Or working a job you hate until you can finally retire. Only the brave can put their hand up and say “No. No more. That won’t be me. I want something different.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with blogging to blog. There are a ton of blogs out there that are hobby blogs that make no money. There are plenty of bloggers that do it just for fun.

But if you started your blog with the end goal of making money to meet one of your needs, you have a business, not a blog. Your first step in making money blogging is to decide that your blog is in fact a business.

Action Step: Write this down and say it out loud every day. “I am a business owner, not only a blogger. I own my own business.”

2. What is Your Why?

Talking about your why is trendy right now and for good reason. Owning a small business is HARD work. There are many late nights and early mornings. Days where you work for free. Working 60 hours a week to make only pennies.

No, being self-employed, much like parenting, is not for the faint of heart. But it is oh so rewarding. You are hooked the first time a client says to you “Wow, you helped me! I couldn’t have done this without you.” That feeling, that rush is like nothing else!

There are peaks and valleys of self-employment. Knowing your why, will get you through the hard times, and back up to the peaks.

I have several whys that have kept me going over the last 15 years of self-employment.

I want to:

Share my love of God with believers and non-believers.

Retire my husband so we can work on our businesses together and have more freedom as a family.

Continue to stay home with my children so I am here when they are sick or after school or just plain need me.

Not have to work for anyone else again because I am not so good at being told what to do. 😉

But there is one big, fat, hairy, audacious goal that is pushing me right now. One big goal that gets my butt out of bed when my alarm clock goes off at 4:15am.

I want to take one year off and travel the United States in our 5th wheel. I want to show our kids the country. I want to have a nomadic lifestyle. I want to have that bonding time as a family. I want to travel and hit the open road.

The only way to make this dream come true is to have a business that isn’t location dependent. This is my big why right now!

We all have our typical whys. “I want to retire my husband.” “I want to pay off my student loans.” “I want to be a stay-at-home-mom.” I share these whys with you and they are great ones! But I am a big believer in having a tangible why that keeps you going at 4:15am when everyone else is sleeping. A big dream that keeps you motivated when you don’t feel like you can keep going. Dream high and dream big. Find your why that will keep you going through the thick and thin of being a business owner.

Action Step: Dream! Take 10 minutes in quiet silence and dream! Pick your big why and envision it happening. Envision your husband working from home everyday. See your family taking off in your RV to travel for a year. Then create a vision board with your big dream. Stare at it, pray over it, and meditate on it everyday and especially when things get tough.

3. Believe In Yourself

We’ve established that being a business owner is hard work. It’s also hard on the heart. You must have a steady stream of confidence at the ready when things get to you on the inside.

What kinds of things?

Comparison, jealousy, and critics.

Well there are times when you will compare yourself to others. Something like “Wow, she is such a great writer, making more money, and helping more people. I must be terrible at this.”

I love Jon’s quote. Whenever I start to compare myself to other’s I remember this quote. I also remind myself that I don’t know that person’s story. They could have 5 failed blogs and this is the one that finally worked out for them. We don’t know what’s underneath someone else’s success story. So stay in your lane and be proud of what you have accomplished!

Another feeling that comes up is the ugly, old, green monster. Jealousy. “I launched my course and only 20 people bought it. She launched her course and sold out within 30 minutes.”

Jealousy is normal, but you can’t let it consume you. Instead turn it into an opportunity. Look at what the person did and use it to improve your next launch, blog posts, or Facebook group. Look at the thing you are jealous about and turn it into a learning experience for you.

Then there’s the critics. The more success you have, the more critics you will get. I think critics pick on people because they are jealous. But never fear, you will know you have “made it” when people start to criticize your work.

I’m not gonna lie. It hurts. I think you can have the thickest skin in the world, but when someone criticizes your work it hurts. This work is a part of you, it’s your words. You have to find a way to deal with those comments.

My personal favorite way to deal with my critics? I pray for them. I feel the feelings and then I pray for them. I pray for whatever is going on in their lives that caused them to lash out at me to be fixed, healed, and restored.

Then I go read my testimonial book. 🙂

My testimonial book is filled with kind words that people send me over email and social media. These messages remind me that I am good at what I do and that I am helping people. I encourage you to create your own testimonial book. Whenever someone says even one kind word about you, record it in your testimonial book. Pull out your book when someone criticizes you. Pull it out when you are starting to doubt your abilities. I promise it will lift you up!

Action Step: Take stock of who you are and how you help people before you start your business. Make a list of “I am” statements. “I am good at helping people. I am good at my ‘niche subject. I have what it takes to succeed.” Then keep a testimonial book with your “I am” statements to lift you up when you have rough days.

4. Have a Servant’s Heart

When you first start out in your business you won’t make a lot of money or any at all. It takes time to grow a following, learn about your niche, and figure out how you can help them. Now I am not saying it will take you years and years to turn a profit. If you do it right, you can start making money within six months in my opinion. But up until that point, you must have a servant’s heart.

What I mean by a servant’s heart is that you have to help a whole bunch of people for free before you can ever expect to get paid. People have to know that you care about them before they will spend one cent on your products. They have to know you can help them before they see your products as something they need. You have to reach out to your ideal clients and help them for free. Give them advice. Ask them questions. Get to know them. Help them. And do this all for free.

You want people to trust you and not because you want to make money off of them. You want to build a relationship with them so you can help them. You want to be their friend. Then once you know them better you will be able to develop programs that will continue to serve them.

But it all starts with that servant’s heart. You must truly care about your people and building relationships with them. I promise when you come at this with a servant’s heart, the money will come.

Action Step: Aim every single day to help at least 5 people in your niche. Reach out to them in Facebook groups. Check in with them on Instagram. Get to know them, be their friend, and offer your advice for free.

5. How Are You Going to Make Money

Now that your mindset is ready, it’s time to figure out how you are going to make money. I think this is the number one place bloggers struggle. They don’t create a plan on how to make money from their blog. To see your blog as a business, it has to make money. It has to turn a profit. You have to know HOW you will make money or you will have no direction for your business.

There are so many ways to make money online. Here’s a sampling:

Sponsored Posts

Ebooks

Courses

Coaching

VA services

Social Media Manager

Ads

Membership Site

Affiliate Marketing

Stock Photos

Consulting

This list is overwhelming isn’t it?! I also think this is where bloggers struggle when it comes to making money online. There are so many ways to do it, how do you focus on what to do?

Again, you have a plan. A plan of how you want to make money.

I will give you an example of my plan. Here is how I plan to make money from my blogging business:

Women Winning Online Income Model

50%: VIP Membership Community

25% My courses + ebooks

25%: Affiliate income

Based on my plan I need to spend at least 50% of my time focused on bringing in new women into my membership community. My main tasks everyday need to revolved around supporting my membership community. The rest of the time I need to focus on promoting my courses and any affiliate programs I am a part of. But the bulk of my effort is bringing new women into my community and supporting them.

This means I am focused more on promoting the membership. I am reaching out more 1:1 and inviting women to join us in the community. I am actively looking for women that want to turn their blogs into a business. I am looking for women that want to work with a community of women that are pursuing the same goals. It is my sole focus.

One thing I don’t have listed on here is coaching. I do some limited 1:1 coaching, but I don’t advertise it and I don’t focus on it. I only take on new coaching clients when people approach me to coach them. This is not something I spend time on to attract new clients which is why it isn’t in my income model.

If you are serious about making money from your blog, you need to figure out how you are going to do it. It doesn’t have to be perfect but you must have a plan. Do you want more sponsored posts or do you want to coach? Do you want to do a little bit of everything? How will you turn your blog into a business and make money?

Action Step: Write down 3 ideas of how you want to profit from your blogging business. Then assign a percentage to each idea. Focus on how you will make money from your highest priority item. Then go out there and do it!

6. Set Your Goals

Now that you know how you want to make money, it’s time to set your goals. If you don’t set goals, you will miss your target every time and you will never get to where you want to be.

I think every online business owner, me included, starts out with this thought:

“I want to make $10,000 a month, every month.”

Whoooeee that sounds nice doesn’t it?! That’s my goal for sure! But guess what, if you start out aiming for $10,000, you will be disappointed when you make $100, $1,000, or $5,000. And that’s kinda sad isn’t it?

So start big, but build up to it. If you aren’t making any money online right now aim for making your first $100. Then shoot for $500, $1,000, and so on and so forth. Rome wasn’t built in a day and your jump to $10,000 won’t happen in a day either. It will start with consistently making money every single month and grow from there.

Once I know how much I want to make every month, I match that number to my plan of how to make money listed above.

For example, let’s say I want to start out making $1,000 a month. It would look like this:

50% Membership Community: $500 or 11 women a month

25% My Courses: $250 or 6 courses a month

25% Affiliate Income: $250

When I drill down like this I can see exactly what I need to do to meet my goals. It becomes more real and more attainable to me.

Action Step: Set your first money goals. Have a big “pie in the sky” number but also start out with a number that is easy for you to hit. Then increase your goals from there. Match it to how you are going to make money to make it tangible. For example, I have goals set at $3,000, $5,000, $7,000 and $10,000.

7. Define Your Ideal Client

Alright, you are on a roll at this point. You have decided yes, you want a blog that is a business. One that makes money and has a plan on how to do it. You are feeling great because you have tackled some serious mindset issues.

Now what?!

Now it’s time to go figure out who you are going to serve! Who are you going to help? Who is your ideal client?

I like to be very specific about this. If you try to capture all the people, you will miss every time. The more you can hone in on your ideal client, the more you will know their feelings and their needs. You will begin to speak their language in your blog posts, opt-in offers, and programs. You will know them inside and out. This is key to running a successful blog and business.

For example, my ideal client looks like this:

Is a woman between the ages of 25-60.

Wants to start a blog or currently has a blog.

Has her blog to make money, not as a hobby.

Feels overwhelmed at how to actually make money blogging.

Has big dreams for her blogging income, not just dollars but lifestyle.

Believes that we are better together.

Once I have the features of my ideal client I can actually begin to see her. I see her face, her shape, and even give her a name. Everything I do at this point revolves around her and her needs. This shapes my blog posts, my marketing messages, and my offerings. I am not selling to a nameless, faceless person at this point. I am helping a real live person turn her blog into a business.

It is so important to sit down and think about who you want to serve. Write down their demographics yes. But also include information about their wants, their dreams, and their fears. I have a posterboard dedicated to my ideal reader. On the posterboard I have listed her good feelings and her bad feelings. This way I am always keeping her at the forefront of my mind when I am working.

Action Steps: Who do you want to work with? Who is your ideal client? Take 20 minutes and write this out. Write out her story, what she needs, and what she wants. The more you know who you want to help, the more you can target your posts, your opt-ins, and your programs.

In Conclusion

In the first part of this series I covered how to start turning your blog into a profitable business. They are:

Blog or Business?

What is Your Why?

Believe in Yourself

Have a Servant’s Heart

How are You Going to Make Money?

Set Your Goals

Define Your Ideal

It is important to get your mindset ready and treat your blog as an actual business. Take the time to figure out why you are doing this and who you want to help. Then put your ideas to goals and numbers. Make a plan of how you will make money every month and what goals you need to hit. This is how you start to turn your hobby blog into a profitable business!

In the second part of this series, I cover how to actually go out there and start making money every single month!

What are you doing to make money blogging? Do you see yourself as only a blogger or a blogger + business owner? Have you made plans to make money blogging? Please share with us in the comments below!

This is part 2 in my series “You Started a Blog, Now What?!” You can see part 1 here!

Congratulations! You started a blog, you picked a great hosting company, and have written a few blog posts. It’s an exciting time, but do you find yourself asking the question….

Now what?

Sure you know that you want more blog traffic and you want people to comment on your posts. You may even have a goal of making money from your blog.

But do you know how to get there? Do you find yourself saying “Now what?”

When you build a house you must start with the foundation. If you don’t start with a foundation the house isn’t built on solid ground and will collapse. The same is true of your blog. Before you jump into social media or making money, you’ve got to start with a solid foundation for your blog. This foundation will give your blog a solid ground to grow on and help you achieve success much faster.

So many bloggers skip these steps and then get frustrated when things aren’t working. They get frustrated that their blog isn’t growing. They get frustrated that no one is signing up for their emails. They get frustrated that no one is engaging with their posts.

The number one way to avoid all that frustration is to start your blog with a solid foundation. The following steps will give your blog a solid foundation on which to grow, help people, and make money blogging!

Step 1: Get to Know Your Niche

One of the best things you can do for your new blog is decide who your niche is and then get to know them. I know a lot of bloggers are unsure on how to figure out who their niche is exactly. So instead they write and write without focusing their efforts on one specific group. Then they get frustrated when they don’t get a lot of followers to their blog.

The best way to avoid this is to figure out who your niche is up front and what they want. For example are you writing just for moms or moms and dads? Are you focusing on women with children or women that decided not to have children? Is your focus the career person looking to climb the corporate ladder or the stay-at-home mom?

The best way to figure out who you are writing your blog posts for is to write down who they are.

Grab a piece of paper and try this exercise:

Who is my niche?

Age Range?

Gender?

Spouse or Single?

Kids in the house/Kids grown/Both or No Kids at all?

Stay-at-home mom/Work-at-home-mom/Work-outside-of-the-home-mom

What are their hobbies?

Give your niche a name and write her story.

Then when you know WHO you are writing for it is time to get to know them better! The goal is to know her as well as you know your spouse or your best friend. When you know your niche you can write blog posts she wants to read, create opt-in offers she wants to download, and programs she wants to buy.

There are a few ways to get to know your niche:

Survey them and ask them questions.

Talk to them in Facebook groups and learn more about them.

Pick up the telephone and talk to them.

I have done all three and you know what’s been the most effective? Getting on the phone with them.

What?!

Aren’t we supposed to be bloggers that hide behind our screens and only talk over the computer?! Sure we can do that and yes options one and two work great to get to know your niche. But option three is the best way to connect with your audience.

When you get on the phone with them you can ask them open-ended questions and learn more than you would in a survey or Facebook group. You can understand what it is they really need. You also develop this sense of empathy for them and desire to help them.

Once you have all this information sit down and write your niche’s story. Write about what she wants, what she needs, what she does all day, and who is in her life. Write down her dreams and her goals. Write down her fears and her obstacles. Doing this will give you an intimate insight into your niche and how you can help her. It is a very powerful exercise!

The first step in blogging is deciding who your niche is and getting to know them. Take the time to do this and your blog will grow right from the beginning!

Action Step 1: Brainstorm who your niche is and write down their demographics. Spend time getting to know them. Ask your niche questions so you can learn how you can help them through your blog. Then write their story. Keep this information by your computer so when you are doing anything for your blog, your niche is at the forefront of your mind.

Step 2: Find Your Tribe

When you first start blogging it is lonely. You write all this great content and you get maybe 20 pageviews a day at most. Maybe a comment or two and a couple shares on Facebook.

It’s lonely! And kinda depressing!

You want engagement. You want people to read your posts, comment on them and share them. Is that too much to ask?! You want your words to matter and you want to help people. Now if you could just find them!

I struggled with this too when I first started Women Winning Online. I was writing great content and then nothing. I was hearing nothing but crickets on my blog. I loved writing but it was depressing to have no one read my words!

So I did something drastic. I shutdown my blog and stopped blogging completely. I redid my home page and put up a landing page for my best opt-in offer at the time.

I spent the next few months getting to know the women I wanted to write for. I talked to them and I got to know them. I listened to what they were struggling with and what they wanted to learn more about. I shared my expertise with them.

While I was getting to know my future readers, I was also doing a lot of research on popular bloggers. I was trying to figure out what they did to get so popular and get thousands of pageviews. I found it all came down to one word.

Exposure.

They weren’t publishing posts and hoping people would show up to their blogs. They were going out there and getting exposure for their blogs.

In order to get more blog traffic you can’t sit behind your screen and think “If I build it, they will come.” NO! You have to go out there and SHOW people how awesome you are. Then they will be excited about visiting your blog, subscribing to your email list, and sharing your blog all over social media.

So how do you build that tribe? That tribe of people falling over themselves wanting to comment on and share your content? You find out where they are hanging out online. You get to know them. You help them. You engage with them.

It’s that simple. If you build your tribe and help them, they will come to your blog. They will comment on your posts and they will share them with their friends.

That is how you get exposure for your blog. That is how you grow. That is how you get traffic. You find your tribe.

You know what else? Finding your tribe make blogging a heck of a lot less lonely and a lot more fun!

Action Step 2: Go out there find your people and build your tribe. Find out where they are hanging out online. Look for your niche on Pinterest and in Facebook groups. Then engage with them. Get to know them and help them. This will bring you the traffic you want and the readers you deserve.

Did you know that I have made it even easier for you to find your people with my course Find Your Tribe Online? I have found out exactly where your people are hanging out online and share it with you in Find Your Tribe Online. Then I show you exactly what you should do once you find your people to grow your blog and engagement. Check it out here: https://womenwinningonline.com/find-your-tribe/

Step 3: Write 5-10 Pillar Posts

Pillar posts are the next thing you want to work on in your blog. Pillar posts are posts that give a lot of help to your readers. They are evergreen which means the content holds true year after year. They are usually long posts with a lot of information in them.

The best way to figure out what to write for your pillar content is to look at what your niche wants to learn. This is why steps one and two are so important. If you have properly determined your niche you know exactly what they want you to write.

Pillar posts work even better if they are under a theme. For example you might write 3 pillar posts about how how to prepare for your baby’s arrival, what to expect at the hospital, and what to expect when you get home. The theme here would be preparing for a new baby.

Then you could create four more posts that continues on the path of what to do in the first 3, 6, 9, 12 months of your new baby’s life.

In this example all the content is evergreen as the fundamentals of welcoming a new baby into the world do not change that much. By creating themes like this you become a resource to your readers. From these pillar posts you will build a loyal following for your blog!

Action Step 3: Take a look at your conversations from step 1. Make a list of 5-10 pillar posts to write and get writing! Aim to make the posts a minimum of 2,000 words. Look for themes that you can create for your posts and how they fit with your blogging categories.

Step 4: Start an Email List

From day one you should focus on building your email list. Your email subscribers are your most loyal followers. They will read your posts and share them on social media. They will buy your affiliate programs and your courses. They will be the readers you form the most intimate relationships with.

Yet all too often I hear these two statements from bloggers about building an email list:

Do I need an email list if I am never going to sell anything?

Why do I need an email list when social media is where people are hanging out?

Point 1:

Yes you need an email list even if you are never going to sell anything! First you can send out email newsletters to your list with links to your posts. This will bring you traffic.

Second, never say never. You may decide down the road to share an affiliate program that has worked for you with your readers. You will get more interest to this program from your email readers than you will from anywhere else.

Third, most bloggers think if they share a post, freebie, or an affiliate link on social media that it will bring them a ton of traffic. Sadly, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Is it possible to get a lot of traffic from social media? Sure, but you will get even more from your email list.

Why?

Because social media is a very, very crowded platform. Think about how you scroll on Facebook. You are on your phone and your finger is aimlessly pushing the newsfeed down, down, down. You are looking at cute photos. You are looking at funny videos. You are checking out your college friend’s latest post. That’s a lot going on in one newsfeed! Even more, that is all probably happening within five minutes time.

Social media has a lot of competition! Because of this, it is harder and harder to get your message seen, let alone clicked on. But email is a different story. There isn’t a lot of competition in email. They see your message in their inbox and they have to do something. They either have to click on it and read it, or delete it. They have to take an action with your email. That’s why more traffic will come from your email than social media sites.

Point 2:

Yes people are hanging out on social media, but the relationships are built from email. It’s like going to a party. At a party you aren’t going to stand in the middle of the room and share your biggest struggles with the everyone there. But you will talk to a friend or two in a corner about issues you are having with your kids or your husband.

The same is true for email and social media. On social media we put on our best face, but on email we are more comfortable sharing what is really going on with us. Your readers will talk to you over email and tell you what they need. They will tell you how you can help them. This information turns into blog posts for you. But most importantly it gives you the opportunity to connect with your readers on a deeper level and help them. Isn’t helping people why we are blogging in the first place?

Action Step 4: Make building your email list your top priority from day one of your blog. And don’t just build an email list, send emails to your list too. Start developing relationships right from the beginning! Send a weekly email newsletter with exclusive tips for your readers. Share your blog posts with them and ask them questions. Get to know your readers. Be their friend and they will be loyal to you!

For ideas on what to send in your email newsletter check out my Email Newsletter Worksheet that I use to get a 40% open rate on my email newsletters!

Step 5: Choose an Email Service Provider

Now that you know the importance of starting your email list, it is time to start it! To do this you need the right tools in place to make that happen.

Email Service Provider

The first thing you need is a good email service provider. An email service provider is not your Gmail inbox. An email service provider is a third party that you use to collect and send emails. If you used your personal inbox you would have to send emails to your subscribers one at a time to avoid getting caught in the spam folder. Email service providers take care of this by sending mass emails, one at a time.

There are three email service providers I recommend:

MailerLite

MailerLite is free up to 1,000 email subscribers. They have simple landing pages you can use to get more email subscribers. MailerLite is a great way to get your feet wet when it comes to email marketing. But if you are serious about growing your email list, which you should be, I would jump into a paid program sooner rather than later. You will get more features, including automations, which will help you grow your list and your relationships.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a great email service provider to start with because it is inexpensive and you get a lot for the price. You can get started with ActiveCampaign for $9 a month and get full access to their automations and list building features. It is a little clunky to get started but their support team is great about helping you out if you get stuck.

ConvertKit

ConvertKit bills itself as the email service provider for bloggers. I love that! An email service provider just for us! ConvertKit is a bit pricer starting out at $27 a month, but it’s setup is really easy. I find their platform to be user friendly and their support team to be fantastic!

A note about MailChimp

A lot of bloggers will start out with MailChimp and this is a huge mistake. MailChimp is free which is why a lot of bloggers use it. But free is not always good. You know the saying “you get what you pay for?” Well this is true with MailChimp.

MailChimp is known for having their emails sent to people’s spam folders. In fact, MailChimp sent me one of their own emails and it was sent to my spam folder. In order to grow your list and your blog, people have to be able to read your emails!

Another issue is the support at MailChimp is not good and pretty much non-existent. Your email list will be the bread and butter of your blog. You have to put it in the hands of a company that will take care of you and your readers. MailChimp is not that company.

Action Step 5: Decide on which email service provider you will use and set up your new account!

Step 6: Grow Your Email List

Okay you have the right email service provider, now it’s time to get people on your email list! It’s time to make your list explode and grow like crazy! Sounds fun right?!

Opt-in Offer

The first step in growing your email list is to create an awesome freebie! A freebie is also known as an opt-in offer or a lead magnet. The opt-in offer is something you give to the reader in exchange for their email address.

The reason you need a strong opt-in offer is because we are on information overload. We get a ton of email these days don’t we?! We aren’t going to just sign up for someone’s email list unless there is something in it for us. Not because we are selfish, but because we don’t have time to sift through yet another email in our inboxes.

This is why the opt-in offer is so important! You are giving your readers something they want, something they need. This is in exchange for their email address. When your opt-in offer hits on something they need, they will gladly give you their email address.

So what’s a good opt-in offer? A good opt-in offer is anything that solves a problem and is actionable or resourceful. Basically it is something that gets people to take action. The key to making a good opt-in offer is to solve the number one problem your audience is currently facing.

Good ideas for opt-in offers include:

A list of resources they can use

Checklists

Guides

Worksheets

Planners

The goal with your opt-in should be to solve a problem. Something I always think about when I am creating my opt-ins is “Are they going to print this out or is it going to sit on their computer unopened and unused?” I always have my opt-in offer being printed as the goal!

The reason you want people to use your opt-in offer is because they will see you as someone that is there to help them. Not just collect an email address and sell them, but to help them. When they see you as a friend, they are more likely to visit your blog and support you! A good opt-in offer is a great way to start building a relationship with your readers!

Action Step 6: Brainstorm ideas for your first opt-in offer. Then schedule time to write it. I break it up into 30 minutes a day until it is done!

Step 7: Promote Your Opt-In Offer

Now that you have an awesome opt-in offer, it’s time to get some eyes on it! You need people to see it.

One of the best ways to advertise your opt-in offer is on a landing page. A landing page is one page on your blog that offers your opt-in offer to download. It is a distraction free zone. There is no menu navigation, sidebar, or footer. The number one goal of your landing page is to share your opt-in offer and ask people to download it.

Once your landing page is ready to go, share it everywhere! Share it in Facebook group promo days, share it on Pinterest, share it on Instagram. Use the link for your opt-in in your profile links on social media. Add it to your email signature. Add it to the navigation menu on your blog.

Now there is one fear I hear a lot from bloggers about doing landing pages. You might be thinking the same thing right now. The fear goes something like this: “If I only share my landing page, how are they ever going to see my awesome content on my blog? What if they visit my landing page, don’t sign up, and then never come back to visit my blog?”

I hear you. I had this same worry when I first started doing landing pages. In fact I made a huge mistake and put links to my best content on my landing page. Not good!

Here’s the thing about blogging. When people come to visit your site there’s a good chance they won’t return. Not because you don’t have awesome content, because I know you do. But people don’t come back because they are busy. We are all busy! We are overloaded with messages all day long. It’s impossible to remember the name of that one great site.
This is why it is so important to get people to subscribe to your email list when they visit your blog. When they are on your email list, you can send them an email and remind them about your awesome site!

When you send people to a landing page instead of your home page, you increase the chance of them signing up for your email list. You have a 50/50 shot which is more than what you have when they visit your blog. This is why a landing page works and is one of my favorite ways to grow my email list!

Other Places

You also want to advertise your freebie opt-in offer all over your blog and social media profile. Ideas include:

Blog sidebar

Blog footer

Blog header

In your blog content

Pinterest Pin

URL’s on your social media profiles

Email signature

It is important to make growing your email list your number one priority. Your subscribers will be your most loyal followers. They will be your best relationships that you build on your blog. They will give you ideas on what to write about, how you can help them, and what products they need. Along with writing great content, make growing your email list your top priority!

Action Step 7: Add your opt-in offer to your blog in strategic place. Create a landing page for it, and promote the heck out of it!

Starting a blog is so exciting, but it can be so overwhelming too! There’s a lot to learn and a lot to do. I have so many bloggers email me and say, “I’ve started this blog but I have no idea what to do now! I am so overwhelmed!” My best advice is to follow a plan and build a strong foundation for your blog. The foundation is what will help you get more traffic and earn money from your blog.

Here are the exact steps I have used to grow two successful, profitable blogs:

Next up in this series, I am going to cover what you should focus on with social media as a newer blogger and what you can forget! To see part one in this series, check out my post How to Start a Successful Blog.

What would you add to these steps for new bloggers? What overwhelms you with your blog? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

I Started a Blog…Now What?! was last modified: August 25th, 2017 by Jen Snyder

The beginning of the month is here and that means a blog income report! I love blog income reports because they help hold me accountable, show me what I have accomplished, and where I need to grow. Each month I share marketing strategies that I try to grow my blog and business. I share ideas that I tried and then what worked and didn’t work. My hope is that my blog income reports show my wins, losses, and lessons that will help you on your blogging journey too!

One Word to Describe March: Break

The Numbers: March

I have four main goals for my blog:

Help women through my writing and services.

Increase pageviews every month.

Increase my email subscriber every month.

Earn an income through services, classes, products, reviews, and advertisements.

8. Brainstorm ideas on how to get consistent income: Miss

Number of People I Served in November: 8,873 people!

Income Report

Note some of these links are affiliate links including items I have personally used. Please see my affiliate disclosure here. If you have any questions about my income or expenses please leave me a comment below!

Blog Expenses: $381.07

ActiveCampaign: $29.00

Find Your Tribe Online Affiliates: $134.00

PayPal Fees: $37.07

Virtual Assistant: $100.00

Screw U: $67.00

BoardBooster: $5.00

Ultimatum Timer: $9.00

Net Income: +$1,237.90

March was a nice break after January and February. There was a lot of hustle and a lot of work in those two months and it felt good not to push as hard this month, yet still make an income from my blog.

Are you ready to start your own blog? You should! You will be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes! If you get stuck I am here to help you!

Previous Income Reports

Blog Income Report: What Worked

1. New Opt-In Offer

At the end of March I had this idea to create a new opt-in offer. It wasn’t on my March goals at all. Sometimes I get a wild hair and decide I need to do something new, and then get sucked into it for like 4 days. Or well that’s what happened this time anyway. 😉 My husband loves when I do stuff like that because I am pretty checked out mentally until it’s done. Ooops!

That is what happened at the end of March. I posted a poll in my Facebook group letting the ladies know I was working on a new opt-in offer. I asked them what they wanted to read they needed the most help on. I also posed this same question to my email subscribers.

Hands down the social media report won! But the cool part about this poll is that I now have two more ideas for future blog posts or opt-ins.

I then set out to make my new opt-in. I was a little nervous because I was going to do it all in Canva instead of Photoshop. I am still getting used to Canva and am not always sure of my designs. I hunkered down for about four days and worked on this thing. I wanted it to be full of so much information and actionable things people could implement. I also wanted it to be pretty!

It went live on March 23rd and 148 people subscribed to it that day. By the end of the following week 308 people had signed up for this freebie. I think it’s safe to say this one was a big hit!

Takeaway: In order for an opt-in to work, you really have to hit a pain point with your audience. What is bugging them? What isn’t working for them? The best way to do this is to ask and then listen. Then create the solution and make it look good. People will download almost anything if it looks good!

2. Implementing Board Booster Strategy

In March I finally made the switch to BoardBooster and I love it! I feel a bit guilty because Tailwind was so generous with their offer of a free year during WWO’s birthday giveaway. But BoardBooster had two things that Tailwind doesn’t: looping and automation.

Now I can’t take credit for the strategy that I used to set up my BoardBooster account. I am taking my friend McKinzie Bean’s course, Pinterest to Profits, and I am following her strategy on how to set up my BoardBooster account. I am going to make some changes and tweaks to make my own strategy, but until I do, all the credit goes to McKinzie and her course.

I set up a few random campaigns that pin my pins to all the group boards I am apart of. I set up a scheduled campaign that automatically takes my new blog post and pins it to certain blogging group boards. I created a campaign that schedules other people’s content to my boards. This is one strategy I want to play with a bit. Finally I set up lopping to loop my “Best of Women Winning Online” board and my “Blogging Tips” board.

It was a lot of work to set up and I was confused more than once. I watched McKinzie’s videos over and over and even printed out a few things. I have to say the hard work was worth it. Immediately I started seeing results from Pinterest!

Since I have started blogging Facebook has always sent me more traffic than Pinterest. A fact that completely stresses me out because Facebook loves to change the algorithims all the time. I also know that Pinterest should be my number one driver of traffic as a blogger. I needed to do something to change that and BoardBooster did just that!

I will also add joining the right group boards made a difference as well as pinning other people’s content. I was not good at pinning other’s content because I couldn’t figure out a non-tedious way to do it on Tailwind and my manual pinning was inconsistent. With BoardBooster I have campaigns set up to pin other people’s content for me. It is making things a lot easier!

Takeaway: Always take time to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. Also if Pinterest is not working for you, invest in a course that will teach it to you. The biggest mistake I made in 2016 was not getting my blog on board with Pinterest fast enough. Even when I did, I didn’t have a consistent pinning strategy. Consistency is half the battle to be a successful blogger and this includes on Pinterest.

3. Promoting an Alternative Course

At the beginning of March there was a higher priced blogging course for sale for a limited time. I know a lot of people were feeling the pressure to buy it. Heck I was and I own the dang thing! But I also knew the price was cost prohibitive for a lot of people. So I shared what I believe is the very best alternative to that course. My friend Suzi Whitford’s Blog By Number course.

My intent with promoting this course was to help people that needed great course that set them on the path of how to start a successful blog. I have been inside Suzi’s course since she created it and I can testify that her course is the real deal. Was it a bonus that Suzi and I earned income from it? Sure, but that was not my main goal. My main goal was to help my readers!

I received a lot of good feedback on my email about Suzi’s course. My readers were thrilled to have an alternative and for someone to share with them a less expensive alternative. It felt good to help people that way!

Takeaway: Anytime you can present an offer that helps your readers you are doing a good thing. If it also helps out your blogging friend, it’s a win-win all around. Finally, sometimes the most expensive things out there don’t work for everyone and there are other options people can invest in. Look for those opportunities and help your readers!

Still feeling like you need a good “start a blog course because something just isn’t working right? Blog By Number will help you figure that out and set you on track to a successful blog!

4. Doing the offer for Find Your Tribe Online

When I launched my new opt-in offer on March 23, I also sold nine copies of my Find Your Tribe Online course over two days. When people opt-in to my freebie they are immediately taken to a bonus page to purchase a buy one get one free offer for Find Your Tribe Online and My 30 Day Marketing Plan for Bloggers. Not only do people get the BOGO deal, they also get a special price on top of that. It’s a pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself!

I am not 100% sure why the offer was so hot those two days and worked so well. I can tell you it really hasn’t converted that well since. My hunch is that the people that purchased Find Your Tribe Online through this special offer know me already. It is warm traffic either through my Facebook group or through my email list. I am guessing they wanted to purchase Find Your Tribe Online for awhile and this offer was one they couldn’t pass up.

Takeaway: Always be experimenting with your blog to see what works and what doesn’t! Test things and see if they convert. If they don’t, try something new. If they do, keep working to improve it. That really is how bloggers become successful. They try and test out different ideas to see what works and what doesn’t!

5. Facebook Live on Mondays

Every Monday since the first week of January I have been doing Facebook lives in my group. I host a Q&A session and people bring me their blogging questions or tell me what they are working on. It’s been a lot of fun and people have been asking some great questions!

The livestreams have increase my visibility within the group. I also think it has helped people get to know me better and see me as someone they can trust. At least I hope so anyway! I have had more than one person tell me they bought Find Your Tribe Online because I have helped so much on these weekly Q&A’s. That feels really good because I do the livestreams for you and not to gain anything out of them. For me they are just fun!

Takeaway: Facebook has been placing an emphasis on livestream since last fall. They have been advertising it on live TV which made me stand up and take notice. Livestreams are an excellent way to get in front of your readers and let them get to know you. It shows them that you are a real person here to help them. I highly recommend you try it out! The first one will be hard and might not be good, but they get better after that. I promise!

6. Guest Post on My Blog

The second week of March I hosted my first guest post on Women Winning Online. It was awesome! Even better it was well-written and well-received by my audience. Plus it gave me the opportunity to help out someone I consider a friend and gave me a break from writing for the week. All around a big win for everyone!

The post was about time management which is not a subject I blog about, but one I know my readers want help with. I think this is part of the reason the post worked so well. It wasn’t about marketing or the business of blogging, but it was a good compliment to my normal topics. That and Emily is a great writer and this information was so good!

I also want to note, there were a couple reasons I accepted Emily as a guest poster. First she got to know me through social media. She commented on my posts, helped my ladies in my group, and is a client of Find Your Tribe Online. I feel like she courted me the old fashioned way! 🙂 What Emily did made me trust her and show me what an authentic person she is. She showed me that I could trust her and trust my audience with her. My readers are so important to me and I need to know they are in good hands with anyone that I put them in contact with. Plus Emily sent me a perfect guest post pitch. All in all it was a great experience for my first guest post on Women Winning Online.

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to let people guest post on your site, but do your homework on them before you do. I was fortunate that my first guest poster is a great writer and delivered a post that meets my high expectations. I know not all bloggers are that lucky. Don’t be afraid to turn down a guest post that doesn’t meet your expectations. But don’t worry either that people won’t live up to your expectations. Start with giving them the benefit of the doubt and go from there. Hosting guest posts can be another way to give more back to your readers and that is good for all involved!

What Didn’t Work

1. Sale for Find Your Tribe Online

The day I launched my new opt-in I sent out an email and did a post in my group about Find Your Tribe Online being on sale for $53. It was weird timing and it didn’t go well. One person purchased it at that special price. In the email and the post I alluded to the fact that you could get Find Your Tribe Online for an even better special price. It was confusing and weird and I think it turned people off. I realized it after I sent the email and knew I had made a mistake.

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to try new things of course, but if they don’t work, don’t beat yourself up. The majority of the things we try with blogging won’t work. Sad isn’t it?! But the ones that do we can capitalize on to grow our blogs and our income. We just have to keep swimming! Evaluate your flops to see what you can do better next time. We learn the most from our mistakes, not our wins.

2. My Sales Funnel for Find Your Tribe Online

Right now when people opt-in to my social media freebie, they are taken down an email sales funnel with an offer to purchase Find Your Tribe Online after the fourth email. Again there is a special offer for Find Your Tribe Online. It isn’t as good as the offer they get after subscribing, but it’s still pretty dang good if you ask me!

Yet it isn’t converting well at all. That’s tough. I know it’s a great course otherwise I wouldn’t promote it as much as I do. I know it is helping bloggers and they are seeing more traffic and more engagement to their blogs. But it is on me to show that to my new readers and show them how it will help them. So back to the drawing board I go!

Takeaway: Always be evaluating and try not to get too down on yourself. If something isn’t working at all find out why. Work to find a new way to write things or present your offers. I almost think it’s better to have something not work at all because then you know you have to start from scratch. If it kind of works you have something to build on, but it’s a challenge to determine which lever to move to make it work better.

3. Getting More Traffic

My goal is to authentically hit 10,000 pageviews every month. Authentically? Yup authentically. You see I pulled this off in February, the shortest month of the year. But it wasn’t authentic because of my giveaway. People were coming in droves to the blog for the giveaway, not for my content. Based on that, I would need to host a giveaway every single month to get that kind of traffic and that’s not what I want to do! I want to hit 10,000 pageviews on my own based on my own content and promotion of it. So the quest to hit 10,000 pageviews goes on!

I didn’t promote my content as hard in March. I took more of a laid back approach to traffic this month and it shows in the numbers. After hustling for two months, I am okay with that!

Takeaway: When you have spikes in your traffic evaluate how that happened. Is it something you can easily repeat or is it an anomaly. If you can repeat it, do more of it to get traffic to your blog!

April’s Goals

1. Hit 7,000 pageviews

Publish an excellent post 3 times in April

Host one success story

Share posts in my Facebook group weekly

Refine my BoardBooster Pinterest strategy

Include posts in my weekly email newsletter

Do dedicated promo days in Facebook groups

Update my Pins to make them more “pinnable”

2. Grow to 2,100 Email Subscribers

Share my Social Media opt-in in my Facebook group once a week

Share my Social Media opt-in on other Facebook group promo days

Share it on Pinterest

3. Earn $2,000 Blogging

Earn 70% from my course, Find Your Tribe Online

Sell 30 copies of Find Your Tribe Online (Grab your copy here!)

Earn 30% from affiliate programs

4. Revamp the sales page for Find Your Tribe Online

5. Revamp my sales funnel for Find Your Tribe Online

6. Grow Pinterest traffic by 50%

Update pins to make them look better

Delete underperforming and ugly pins

Be more strategic of when I pin my pins to group boards

Start my own group board of business bloggers

7. Finish the update to Find Your Tribe Online

8. Brainstorm ideas on how to get consistent income

April is shaping up to be a fun month with a lot of strategy to think about and work on. I love it! It’s like figuring out how to put a 10,000 piece puzzle together. Challenging but oh so doable and fun too!

How was your March? Can you share with us in the comments what your wins were or what you struggled with? I would love to hear about it and help you!

If you like this post, please pin it to your blogging tips or income report boards. Thank you!

March 2017 Income Report was last modified: April 6th, 2017 by Jen Snyder

The beginning of the month is here and that means a blog income report! I love blog income reports because they help hold me accountable, show me what I have accomplished, and where I need to grow. Each month I share marketing strategies that I try to grow my blog and business. I share ideas that I tried and then what worked and didn’t work. My hope is that my blog income reports show my wins, losses, and lessons that will help you on your blogging journey too!

One Word to Describe February: Fun!

The Numbers: February

I have four main goals for my blog:

Help women through my writing and services.

Increase pageviews every month.

Increase my email list every month.

Earn an income through services, classes, products, reviews, and advertisements.

Let’s take a look at how I did meeting my goals this month!

Are you ready to start your own blog? Awesome! You are going to be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

Number of People I Served in November: 16,101 people! (WOW!)

Income Report

Note some of these links are affiliate links including items I have personally used. Please see my affiliate disclosure here. If you have any questions about my income or expenses please leave me a comment below!

Net Income: +$1,967.08

February was a fun, fun month! Lots of celebrations and meeting new people in the Facebook group. It was fun to hit a lot of my goals and even more fun to help more people. That’s why the word this month is fun!

Are you ready to start your own blog? You should! You will be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes! If you get stuck I am here to help you!

Previous Income Reports

Blog Income Report: What Worked

1. Giveaway

On February 8th, Women Winning Online turned one and I celebrated in a big way! We celebrate our kids turning one with big parties so I thought why not do the same with the blog?!

I almost didn’t do it. I had just come off of updating and re-launching Find Your Tribe Online and I was tired. And probably a little burnt out. But I thought what the heck? Why don’t I email some of the bigger companies and see if they would participate. If they say yes, I’ll do it. I emailed SiteGround, ConvertKit, PostPlanner, and Tailwind. The first surprise was when both SiteGround and Tailwind and PostPlanner all said yes the very next day.

Now I was excited! I thought alright let’s go big then!

I wanted to do a different kind of giveaway. I wanted more than one person to win. I came from it with this thought in mind: “What could I offer to my bloggers that would make their lives easier?”

I had Tailwind for Pinterest or Instagram to offer free for a year. I had PostPlanner and SiteGround free for a year to offer as well.

Now I was ready. I built a landing page using Thrive, set up my emails, and I was ready to go. Each day at 9am I would announce the new giveaway for the day. People could enter to win the giveaway everyday. Then on February 8th, the day of WWO’s birthday, I announced the winners live in the Women Winning Online Facebook group.

I have to tell you this was THE most fun I have ever had at “work” ever! First I was giving away prizes that I knew would help people. I knew it would make a difference in their blogging life. Second, I felt like it was Christmas Eve every night for a week! I got to share a new prize every morning. It was so much fun!

Then the night of the giveaway came. I got all dressed up, put on some makeup, poured a glass of wine, and started announcing names. I had 50+ people show up. I have been doing Facebook lives for a while now, but I was so nervous! It ended up being a wonderful night! Everyone was excited about the announcements even if they didn’t win and supportive of the winners. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Takeaway: Don’t forget that in the middle of all the writing and promoting, blogging is supposed to be fun! Give yourself permission to enjoy it again. Take time out and do something fun to celebrate your blog and your readers. Maybe you don’t have to wait for a blogging anniversary. Maybe it could be a celebration to hitting 500 people on your email list. Or celebrating your 100th blog post. Whatever the cause for celebration I encourage you to have fun with it and try something different!

2. Guest posting for Suzi

At the end of the month I did a guest post for my friend Suzi Whitford on Start a Mom Blog. Suzi and I had talked about doing this for awhile and a spot opened up and I took it! We agreed that I would write about Find Your Tribe Online. In February Suzi featured four guest posts on how to make money blogging. Mine was one of them!

It was a very open and honest blog post and the results were incredible!

First and most importantly, I got a lot of good feedback on the post. People said it really helped them and anytime I can do that, I’ve hit a home run!

Second, my traffic went crazy the day the post went live!

Third, I got new email subscribers!

Finally, I got a lot of new clients for Find Your Tribe Online!

The added bonus is that I got to guest post on my friend’s blog and she is someone I love and respect so much. It felt incredible!

Takeaway: Guest posting works! I know this and need to do more of it! But what I have learned is that it has to be the right kind of guest post. It has to be one that fits with the blog, but stands out. I think there is something to doing case studies like this on popular blogs. I will be examining this more in March.

I was scared to put this out there because hey, everything looks good on Facebook right?! I was worried people would think of me differently. I also struggle talking about my illnesses because my parents weren’t very supportive of me when they were in my life. They had the either ignore it or buck up and deal with it mentality. I thought I might get empathy from people and that is almost hard for me to deal with because of my parent’s reactions to my illness.

But like most things I do, I did it scared. I love Darci because she gently encouraged me to get it done. My post went live on February 21st and I kind of held my breath.

I have to say I had nothing to worry about! People were so kind to me and left me the nicest comments on the post and on the Facebook post I shared in Women Winning Online. I also shared it on my personal page which was super scary for me. I also received a lot of kind words on that post. It’s funny because my illnesses are no big deal to me until I have to put them out there.

Takeaway: Anytime you can be vulnerable and help someone you are doing the right thing. We need to feel connected and that we aren’t alone. It felt good for me to see that I wasn’t alone. It’s also good to do things scared. If it feels scary to you do it!

4. Webinar for good content

On February 20th, I launched my new webinar “You started a blog, now what?” I did an afternoon and an evening session. I changed this webinar to share ideas of what to do next after starting your blog. There are so many good ideas of how to start a blog, but not a plan of what to do next. I shared those ideas in this webinar.

The webinar went great! I got a lot compliments on my content and on my slides. People walked away feeling like they got a serious education in an hour. I like that! I don’t like webinars that are 20% content and 80% sales pitch. I try to do opposite and make it 80% content and 20% pitch. I got a lot of feedback that this is exactly how people saw my webinar.

Takeaway: If you want to do a webinar take a lot of time to write an outline and deliver value that people will love. We are very busy people and if we are giving up an hour of our time, it has to give a lot of value! Otherwise we are just left with that ick feeling!

5. Raising price of Find Your Tribe Online

On February 20th I announced I was raising the price of Find Your Tribe Online. My reason for raising the price is because I am adding more content to it. In March I will be adding a section on guest posting, plus updating the content.

At the end of the webinar on the 20th, I announced the price would be going up. The next day I announced it to my email list and to my Facebook group. I let everyone know that on March 1st the price would change. I was firm that the price would never again be $47.

I am experimenting with different methods of how to sell Find Your Tribe Online. As is my style, I am trying to see what works and doesn’t work. Then I report it back to you so you can use it for your blog.

Letting people know the price was going up made a huge jump in sales. For the week of February 20th-28th, I sold 45 copies of Find Your Tribe Online. It was such a fun week! I am so grateful for the people that purchased my course. They are joining us in our private Find Your Tribe Online Facebook group and already seeing results. I love it!

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to raise the price of your courses. It’s scary at first because you don’t know if people will buy at a higher price. But you have to have faith in yourself and your course that it will work. And hey, if it doesn’t you aren’t married to the price! You can always lower it. This is all an experiment!

6. Doing promos in Facebook groups

In February I committed to posting every single day on Facebook group promos. Facebook group promos are days where you can share your posts on a special thread or on the main wall. In Women Winning Online we have promo days on Friday and Saturday.

I belong to a handful of groups that have great promo days. They drive a lot of traffic to my blog! I will say this strategy worked! I can’t measure how much of the traffic below came from my promo days, but overall Facebook sent me 3,430 pageviews.

I tried to change up the content between each group to make my post sound fresh. I got a lot of good feedback, pins, and tweets on my posts. It was fun!

Takeaway: Consistency counts! Any strategy that works a little bit will work even better when you are consistent. Showing up every single day and posting in Facebook groups increased my visibility online. Increasing my visibility increased my traffic, my email subscribers, and the number of members in Women Winning Online.

7. Facebook Ads

In February I launched two Facebook ads. One for my giveaway and one for my webinar. I had done Facebook ads with my last blog and had pretty good success. I have been dying to tinker with it for Women Winning Online. February seemed like a good month to start as I had two big things going on.

The Giveaway Ad

This is the ad I ran for the giveaway.

This ad was targeted at people:

That have visited my website in the last six months, a warm audience.

Who had the word “blogger” in their job description, a cold audience.

That were a “lookalike” audience of my Facebook group and people that had visited my website. Also a cold audience.

The goal was to have people sign up for the giveaway which also means they subscribed to my email list.

The results were fascinating, but not totally surprising.

The “blogger” group ad reached 825 people, generated 2 new subscribers at $4.49 per subscriber. Ouch! This was a shot in the dark ad. Before running another ad to a new group I would work on my targeting.

The “lookalike” group ad reached 685 people, generated 16 new subscribers at $0.65 per subscriber. The numbers here are better but still not great. I still need to do more research on lookalike audiences

The “warm audience” group ad reached 989 people, generated 164 new subscribers at $0.11 a subscriber. This was much better than the other two! Warm audiences do better with these ads because they know who you are and are more likely to trust you and your ad.

Why this ad worked:

It was a giveaway and it’s fun! The prizes were great and people were motivated to enter.

I had awesome women that commented on the ad and shared it! Facebook loved that and increased my ad reach.

The Webinar Ad

These are the two ads I ran for the webinar:

For this ad I decided to run two different images and display it only to people that had visited my website in the last 6 months. I didn’t want to spend money on new or lookalike audiences because I am not that knowledgeable in them yet.

The results were interesting on this ad:

The picture of me performed much better. So much better in fact that I pulled the tulip ad after four days.

This picture of me ad is one that I used back in my old marketing blog and it worked better then too.

The results for this ad weren’t as great as the ones for the giveaway. They were decent but not great. This tells me I have a lot more to learn on Facebook ads, but I knew that already!

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid of Facebook ads! Set your budget to $5 a day and set it to people that have visited your blog in the last 6 months. Make sure you have your Facebook pixel set up even if you aren’t doing ads right now so you can capture that traffic when you are ready.

I also look at Facebook ads like walking into a casino. When you walk into a casino with $20 you are doing it for fun. You have to be prepared to walk out with $0. The same goes for Facebook ads when you are learning how to do them. Be prepared to blow through $40 in one week and not see many results. It’s an experiment until you learn what works for your audience!

8. Women Winning Online Facebook Redesign

On February 13th I debuted a new look for the Women Winning Online Facebook group. I had been wanting to do this for awhile. I figured my year anniversary was as good as time as any!

My designs went from this:

To this:

I also took away some of the less popular prompts and added a couple new ones!

The ladies in the group really loved them and I appreciated their kind words! I don’t feel like any kind of graphic design is my strong suit. I can take a template and make it look good, but I am not good at creating things from scratch. The new design came from a mashup of different Canva templates. I wanted to make it feminine so it appealed to women, I wanted to highlight the tagline, and I wanted to include only my brand colors. I also wanted it to match my Pinterest pins. I think I did alright with this one!

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to change things up now and then! It will help your brand stand out on your blog and on your social media sites. My one tip is to make sure your designs match across all your platforms. This will help people recognize your brand and help you stand out!

9. Getting up early

The majority of the days in February I was up early. And by early I mean by 5:00am. I have a love/hate relationship with getting up early! By nature I am a night owl. I love being up until the wee hours of the morning working on stuff. It is so quiet and the only deadline I have is the morning sun.

But, I am no longer a spring chicken. I am no longer 31. (Booo!) I used to be able to work until 2am, get up at 7am and be ready to go no problem. Not so much anymore. When I do that now I am not pleasant. I am crabby and I snap a lot at my husband and kids. Not good.

So I worked hard this month to flip my schedule. Go to bed earlier (which I hate!) and get up earlier, which I kinda like! I like getting up and watching the sun coming up. I love my quiet time with God before the world wakes up. Then I love to write and work on my blog in peace and quiet.

I also have realized that my brain works better in the morning after a good night’s sleep. I am far more clear headed in the morning than at night. This is a switch for me because the opposite was true for many years. I get more done in the morning and am a much more pleasant wife and mom when everyone wakes up!

Takeaway: Get up early! If this is something you struggle with like I did give yourself a few days to make the switch. I took a few days and went to bed a little earlier each night and got up a little bit earlier each day. It took me a few days to make the flip but once I did I loved it!

10. Got a MacBook Air

I have been wanting a MacBook Air for years. Years! But I couldn’t justify the cost when A. I wasn’t making enough money and B. my laptop was working jsut fine. It was slow but it worked.

But my PC was growing from bad to worse. It would take 30 minutes to boot. The internet would drop and I would have to reboot. It would take 5 minutes to switch between programs. It was slowly sucking my productivity and driving me INSANE! When you only get to work in two hour time blocks and your computer is sucking up 30-45 minutes of that time, it isn’t good.

On President’s Day of all days I checked Best Buy to see if they had any sales on MacBooks. Lo and behold they did! In fact it was the same sale they offered on Black Friday. I wanted to buy it then, but chickened out because it really wasn’t in the budget. I have regretted it ever since. On that Monday, my husband enoucraged me to run to Best Buy and get my MacBook so I did. I was still nervous because it wasn’t 100% in the budget, but my PC was killing me. I went to Best Buy and 20 minutes later walked out with this beauty.

After only a few days I was in love with my MacBook! I can’t tell you how fast it is compared to my PC! I know it’s new, but I also know that Macs have a reputation of holding up better than PC’s. I also love that when I boot it, it takes about 3 minutes. That has never happened with any PC I have owned. Another bonus is the battery. I can work from anywhere and I don’t need to plug it in! I plug it in at night to charge it and it lasts all day. My MacBook has dramatically increased my productivity!

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself and your blog, even if the funds aren’t quite there. Sometimes it really does take money to make money. If you are scared to invest in something, but are confident it will help you grow your blog, try to find a way to make it happen.

11. The Find Your Tribe Online Facebook Group

In February I re-kickstarted the Find Your Tribe Online Facebook group that is available to women in my course. I want to make this group a valuable bonus of the course. I want it to be a group where we implement the strategies of the course together. I want it to be a safe place for people to get their questions answered and their needs met.

This is exactly what has been happening and I am loving it! I love the big group that is Women Winning Online, but I also love working in these smaller mastermind groups too. People do feel more comfortable sharing in smaller groups. We are also all working on a common goal which makes it a closer group. I am looking forward to continuing to nurture that group!

In the group we are doing challenges to grow our traffic, sharing tips that are working for us, and doing our own special promo days. It has been a lot of fun watching the women grow and stretch themselves!

Takeaway: When you are creating your courses look for extra ways to engage your students. Give them bonus access to you and a small mastermind to enhance the course. Also take time to have the group help you too! It’s more fun when you can work with other people to meet common goals!

Blog Income Report: What Didn’t Work

1. Getting Sick

Ah good ol’ life happened to me the last week of January and the first week of February. I got the flu, both kinds, back-to-back. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Especially us Mamas am I right?! Not only do we not have time to slow down and get better, but we also have to be in panic mode so the kids don’t get it.

My son brought it into our house and we got him through it fairly quickly. Then I was at the grocery store with the kids after not feeling well all day. All of a sudden a flash run to the bathroom and it was over for me. My husband met me at home, took the kids, and I spent the next two days in bed trying not to throw up. The only cool part is I got hooked into a cool documentary about the 1980’s.

But the thing is when you are self-employed the show must go on! And I was in the middle of a big show— the giveaway! So sick as a dog I updated the giveaway landing page, sent out the emails, and posted in mine and other Facebook groups. The show must go on!

Oh and if I can whine for a minute? My birthday is February 7th. Every.single.year. without fail someone is sick on my birthday which means no fun plans for me. Whhhhiiiinnnnneeeee!

Takeaway: Rest or your body will find a way to make you! There are no big takeaways here because getting sick is not fun!

2. Webinar for Sales

My webinar, “You started a blog, now what?” is in the wins for content and teaching people good information. But I did have another goal for the webinar: sell my Find Your Tribe Online course.

In my previous blog when I did webinars I knew that 40% of the people that signed up would show up to the webinar live. From that 40% I knew 20% would buy my course. The numbers are not translating to this blog and I have spent time analyzing why.

First my live attendance numbers are lower. They are closer to about 8%-10%. That’s pretty low considering all the time I put into the webinars. I did notice though, more people watch the recording so that’s good. But I get the turnout issues. We are busy moms and busy women! It is hard for us to attend these things! Heck it’s hard for this Mom to find 2.5 hours of time to give them!

I am brainstorming and working on new solutions that work better for all of us. I want to give you the information in an easy way for you to consume it. I have some ideas up my sleeve and look forward to sharing those with you over the next few months.

The other thing I am seeing is that more people are buying Find Your Tribe Online from my emails than from my live webinar. In my old blog it was common for me to see 5-10 people buy my course immediately after the webinar was over. Not so much with this blog. I think we as women don’t jump at things like this. We take time to process it, read the reviews, and process it some more.

That’s fine by me because that’s how I do things too! I do need to sell this course and I want you to have it because I know it works. But I want to present it to you in a way that works for you. I am still figuring out how to do that!

Takeaway: Don’t get discouraged when an idea you have doesn’t work even if it has worked for you before. Analyze what went wrong, think about your readers, and then brainstorm new ways to do things. Remember blogging is all an experiment!

3. Finding a way for consistent income

Am I making money blogging? Yes I am. Is it something I can count on? No it is not and that sends me into a panic every month! Up until the last week in February I thought it was a bust financially. I was stressed about it too. I feel this way the first week of March too. I hate this feeling! My desire is to make a decent, not crazy, income blogging and have it be consistent. I would love to have a system figured out where I know I am going to make $5,000 a month every month without fail. I feel like I am getting closer to figuring that out, but in the meantime I am stressing!

Oh and when I figure it out, you better believe I am going to come back and report it to you!

Takeaway: Blogging is work. These people, myself included, that are making money doing it didn’t just get lucky. You have to figure out your audience, what they need, and then figure out how to give it to them for both free and paid. In the middle of all that you have to figure out how to earn a living. It’s not an easy business! But it’s fun isn’t it?!

7. Guest Posting

Brainstorm who I want to guest post for and what I want to write.

Pitch at least 3 new bloggers for guest posting opportunities.

8. Brainstorm ideas on how to get consistent income

I am excited about March! I feel like it is going to be a research and recovery month for me and I like that. It’s good to slow down on your blog every once in awhile to figure out the steps to take the next leap forward!

How was your February and what are you looking forward to in March? I would love to hear about it! Please share with us in the comments below!

February 2017 Income Report was last modified: March 8th, 2017 by Jen Snyder

The beginning of the month is here and that means a blog income report! I love blog income reports because they help hold me accountable, show me what I have accomplished, and where I need to grow. Each month I share marketing strategies that I try to grow my blog and business. I share ideas that I tried and then what worked and didn’t work. My hope is that my blog income reports show my wins, losses, and lessons that will help you on your blogging journey too!

One Word to Describe January: Awesome

The Numbers: January

Category

December

January

Growth/Loss

Visitors (Users)

667

2,968

+2,301

Returning Visitors

22.80%

61.80%

+39%

Pageviews

1,470

7,055

+5,585

Bounce Rate

71.48%

72.81%

+1.33

Newsletter Subscribers

1,264

1,365

+101

Women Winning Online Facebook Group

2,162

2,734

+572

Pinterest Followers

1,732

1,946

+213

Facebook Fans

247

356

+109

Twitter Followers

2,298

2,357

+59

I have four main goals for my blog:

Help women through my writing and services.

Increase pageviews every month.

Increase my email list every month.

Earn an income through services, classes, products, reviews, and advertisements.

Let’s take a look at how I did meeting my goals this month!

Are you ready to start your own blog? Awesome! You are going to be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

6. Sell 20 copies of Find Your Tribe Online Book: Win (34 copies)

Update the spreadsheet for FYTO to include 20 Pinterest group boards and 20 Facebook groups per niche: Win

7. Sell 50 copies of Find Your Tribe Online Course: Win (52 copies)

Host teaching webinar on the 16th to open the course: Win

Have 7 days of bonuses for the course: Win

Share in Women Winning Online Facebook group: Win

8. Be visible online every single day: Win

Do Facebook live stream 3 times a week in Women Winning Online: Win

Ask questions in my top 3-5 Facebook groups 3 times a week: Win

Answer questions in my top 3-5 Facebook groups 3 times a week: Miss

Number of People I Served in November: 7,067 people! (WOW!)

January Income Report

Note some of these links are affiliate links including items I have personally used. Please see my affiliate disclosure here. If you have any questions about my income or expenses please leave me a comment below!

Net Income: +$2,373.73

January was an incredible month! I am so, so thankful for the support that you have given me and my blog. It was a lot of work as you will see below but a lot of fun too! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support!

Are you ready to start your own blog? You should! You will be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

Previous Income Reports

Blog Income Report: What Worked

1. Me

Oh my you all did I work this month! I wrote epic blog posts. I created a course. I did two webinars. I prepped for Women Winning Online’s birthday of 8 days of giveaways. I worked my tail off!

I knew January would be a busy month. I wanted to come out strong because I had taken most of December off. During that time in December I thought a lot about my blog. I strategized about what I wanted to focus on in 2017. More importantly I dug in and looked at what I want to accomplish over the next three months. Then I hit the ground running in January and it felt good!

Takeaway: Blogging is a blast! I have so much fun with it! But make no mistake, it is work. So many of us want successful blogs that bring us an income. It’s the dream! But that dream requires a plan and it requires work.

2. Dry January

In December my husband and I made a decision that we weren’t going to drink any alcohol in January. Soon after we found out this was called a thing– Dry January. A lot of health and wellness advocate this to get healthy after the holidays. We did this to reign things in. It’s not that we were going overboard with drinking, but there were a lot of celebratory moments over the last few months if you know what I mean. Between summer (it’s short in Minnesota!), the Cubs winning the World Series and then flowing into the holidays, it just felt right to take a break.

I have to say it wasn’t even that hard until the last few days of the month. I love wine! It tastes good, I enjoy it, I look forward to it. It relaxes me and I started to miss it at the end. But during the month I have to tell you it was nice to have a clear head every single day.

Takeaway: Sometimes too much off a good thing can be a bad thing. This is anything not just alcohol! It can be working, phone time, TV time. It’s good to look at what is taking up most of your time and make sure it falls in line with your values and life purpose.

3. Laser Focus

Working hard for me usually comes with a laser focus. A focus so strong that I see nothing else. No shiny object syndrome for me when I am in these modes!

My focus in January was to write epic posts, launch a course, do an awesome webinar, be visible online daily, and work on Pinterest. I feel that I nailed all of those goals. Nailed them. And I feel pretty proud of that! More than that this was my plan, my focus, my goal. It felt good to stay on track with the plan I created.

Takeaway: If you want to grow laser focus is important. If we are bouncing around from idea to idea we never give anything time to stick. By developing a plan, a simple focused plan, we will accomplish our goals and achieve our dreams!

4. Promoting in Facebook Groups

I know the “build it and the will come” theory is nice for a Hollywood movie, but it doesn’t work for blogging. You can’t put a post out there and hope people will read it. You have to go show off your post to get eyes on it!

This is just what I did in January. Every day there are several Facebook groups that will do a promo thread that allows you to share your latest blog post or freebie. I participated in the top Facebook group promos every single day. I created a spreadsheet with the groups, their promo days, and what we could post on those days. That way it is easy for me to go in every morning and find the groups to participate in.

When I am participating in promos I try to not just drop my link and run. I have a general rule that I read and share at least 3 posts for every 1 post I leave of my own. I can’t do it all the time, but I work really hard to keep that ratio.

Takeaway: We are all looking to get more eyes on our blogs. Facebook group promo days are a great way to do that. Don’t just drop your link though. Write 1-2 sentences about it and tell people why they should click on it. Then take the time to share other people’s posts too. If you are looking for a great promo day, check out our Friday promo in Women Winning Online. We are averaging about 400 posts each week with a ton of shares!

5. Pinning in Pinterest

Since I started Women Winning Online my Pinterest strategy has been lax at best. Some weeks I stay on track and schedule through Tailwind. Other weeks I let it go. I also have been not the best at pinning other people’s content. Like I said, a pretty lax approach to Pinterest. This isn’t good considering it should be the number one driver of traffic to my blog.

I stayed on track with Tailwind each week and shared 28 of my pins every day. I went in and manually re-pinned other people’s content on a daily basis. I even changed the covers of all my group boards.

This paid off big for me with traffic in January. In November, I had 403 sessions from Pinterest. In January I had 832 sessions from Pinterest. Double the amount! (I didn’t do December because the traffic was off from not promoting at all.)

Takeaway: If Pinterest is not working for you or if you are not getting the majority of your traffic from Pinterest, it is time to get serious about it in 2017. The number one mistake I made in 2016 was not figuring out Pinterest right away. In my post, 17 steps to a successful blog, I outline in point 10 what I am going to do with Pinterest this year. In Find Your Tribe Online I go even deeper into my Pinterest plan that people are using to triple their traffic. Another top resource I recommend for Pinterest is McKinzie Bean’s Pinterest to Profits. I’ve taken it and it is fantastic!

6. My Webinar

On January 16th I hosted my first webinar of 2017 and my first webinar since September of 2016. It was so much fun! I had 200 women register for the webinar. I had a 50% live rate which means half the people showed up live to watch the webinar.

I had people who missed it watch it after which is new for me. Then during the webinar I had a ton of great questions after both live and in email. I received a lot of compliments on the webinar which meant a lot to me because I worked hard to bring my best stuff. This shows me that the content resonated with people.

Like everything else in January I worked hard to promote my webinar the first two weeks of the month. I wanted to make sure people signed up and people attended. I sent emails to my lists to ask them to sign up. I then sent emails to people that signed up to remind them to show up. I sent them emails with free stuff to use during the webinar. I shared this webinar all over Facebook and in Facebook groups. This webinar was everywhere! This increased my sign ups and increased m live audience attendance.

Takeaway: If you are going to plan an event for your blog, go all in. Don’t randomly post your event and then hope people show up. You have to go out there, get their attention, and ask them to show up. Then knock their socks off with the best content you have!

7. Collaboration Post

In January I did my first collaboration post with other bloggers in my niche. It was so awesome! The post is called “The Top 16 Bloggers Reveal What You Should Focus on in 2017.”

I felt honored that these women would take the time to share their expertise with me and my readers. Their advice ranges from email to social media to focusing on your tribe. The advice is a roadmap for you to follow in 2017. Doing a blog collaboration post was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing more in the future!

Takeaway: Doing a collaboration post is a great way to meet other bloggers in your niche. It is a great way to introduce your readers to new bloggers that can help them. It is also a great way to get more traffic to your site. All of the bloggers in my collaboration post shared my post on their social media sites. It was much appreciated! Overall blog collaboration posts are a win-win for all!

8. Wrote Epic Posts

In December while I was thinking about my blog, I also looked at it from a critical eye and a loving eye. What I found is that I wasn’t in love with my posts during the fall. To me they weren’t the pillar content that I wanted to put out. They weren’t these posts that I knew could help women. They felt scattered, much like I felt last fall felt for me personally too.

I decided that starting in January I was going to make a change with my posts. I was going to create a content calendar for three months and I was going to stick to it. More than that, I wanted to write these epic posts that helped people. That wasn’t full of fluff but was full of actionable content.

I knew the posts would take a lot of work and I was right. All of my posts in January except for the collaboration post, took me at least 7 hours to write, edit, and publish. That’s a full work day!

These epic posts as I call them are greater than 4,000 words. There is a ton of content in them. I worried that people wouldn’t read them or they would be too much. I worried that they wouldn’t get shared.

Let me tell you I had nothing to worry about! Check out this graphic from January. Outside of Find Your Tribe Online, all of my January posts are my top posts for the month.

I am amazed that those posts became my most popular posts that quickly. This to me shows me that epic, long content is what gets read, what gets shared, and what gets pinned. Most importantly long content is what helps people the most.

Takeaway: I hit 7,000 pageviews in the month of January for the first time ever on Women Winning Online. Yes I hustled to promote my blog but I also wrote really good content. Exceptional content in my opinion that helps people. I encourage you to take a look at your blog posts and see if they need more content, more meat added to them. Where can you give your readers more to help them?

9. Hotel Time

My dear husband gave me the best gift he could have ever given me this past month. On the morning of the 14th he said to me “Why don’t you pack up, get a hotel for a couple days, and hammer out your webinar and finish Find Your Tribe Online.”

EXCUSE ME WHAT?!

I thought about it for half a second and ran to our room and started shoving things into a bag before he changed his mind. I love my husband dearly but this is not his M.O.

Then the guilt crept in for another half a second. Truthfully he works hard during the week so to have the kids all weekend to himself is a lot of work.

But I thought to myself “No I deserve this. I am working hard to build something too that will help our family long-term. If I have to cut out short-term to help us in the long-term this is what I need to do. It’s okay.”

And you know what? It was okay. I am with my kids all.of.the.time. All the time. Having me gone gave them a chance to hang out with their dad and let him be in charge. It gave them some bonding time with him too. I also think it made them appreciate all that mom does do at home too.

For two glorious days I got to focus on Women Winning Online, which like my family, is a piece of me. It felt so good. And trust me I worked my tail off during those two days. I could not have gotten done what I did without those two days.

Takeaway: This goes for all of you reading this but especially you moms and even more especially you moms with little kids. What we are doing is HARD. We are trying to build blogs in the fringe hours. We are writing posts before work, during nap time, and after the kids go to bed. We are doing all the things. And it is HARD. If you can please give yourself a break. Maybe it’s not two days holed up in a hotel room but dinner out by yourself. Or a Saturday off to do what you want to do even if that means working on your blog. I am here, my husband is here, to tell you, you deserve it!

10. Facebook Live

I wrote in my top 13 trends for 2017, I knew Facebook live streams were going to be huge in 2017 when I saw a commercial for them during the Chicago Cubs World Series. I also knew that I wanted to focus on being more visible in my group in 2017. Facebook live is the perfect solution for this.

I have been doing this for a little over a month and I have to tell you it is a huge hit! Mondays have the most engagement. I think there are two reasons for this. First, people know they can come and ask me any question and we talk about it. Second, because I am consistent with it without fail. Third because I create an event in the group Sunday night and share it with everyone.

Tuesdays and Thursdays aren’t as popular but I am working on that. I think I need to create events for each live stream. I think that helps a lot.

Oh and by the way, someone told me they bought Find Your Tribe Online just because of my Monday live stream and how much it helped her. I do this for you, but I do recognize that it builds trust in me and in my programs.

Takeaway: If you haven’t gotten on board with Facebook Live the time to get on board is NOW! Do what I did and force yourself to do it by scheduling an event in your group every week or on your Facebook page. You don’t have to jump off the deep end and do it three times a week like I am. Start with one. Do it once a week and see how it works for you. I promise it will and I promise it gets a ton easier!

11. Find Your Tribe Online

I am in love with Find Your Tribe Online! Can I say that? I know it sounds weird because it is something I created, but to me it feels like it’s own thing at this point. Since it’s creation it has worked and has taken on a life of it’s own.

I get emails weekly from clients telling me how they are tripling their blog traffic using Find Your Tribe Online. How people are reading their posts and sharing them. How through finding their tribe their traffic and their email lists are growing. That they are getting more comments on their posts and a ton of traffic from Pinterest. That point blank Find Your Tribe Online was the best investment they ever made in their blog.

This is happening in every niche that I hear from. See what I mean that it’s taken on a life of it’s own?

I heard a resounding “thank you” from the people that had originally bought the book and then upgraded to the course. They thanked me for laying it out in a way they could understand. They loved the extra tips, the videos, and the tutorials. It was a hit and I was relieved! I only want to put my very best out there especially if it is something I am selling and asking you to spend your hard earned money on.

Takeaway: Focus on what your niche is saying to you. What are they really struggling with? This question is becoming a cliche but I don’t care. I will preach it until I am blue in the face. When my people, my tribe, told me they wanted more blog traffic I worked to create something that would make that happen for them. I made a mistake though, one I will write about at great length at some point. I launched FYTO and then I launched 3 more things after that. Instead I should have focused on FYTO, growing it, and getting it into as many hands as possible. That is my mission for 2017!

Blog Income Report: What Didn’t Work

1. No Balance

When I worked like I did in January there’s not a lot of balance in my life. The blog goes well, the rest of it not so much. There was more screen time for my kids than normal. There were too many late nights push 2 and 3 am. True. There was more work than there was play.

This is not the first time I have fallen into this and I doubt it will be the last. I have a lot on my plate. A lot. Like I said above it is hard to do all the things, but this is the season of my life right now. I know that someday my kids will be in school all day. Or hopefully my husband and I will both work the blog and business giving me more time. Or the blog will earn an income that will support me and a team.

But right now it is just me and my part-time VA working on this thing. In the beginning of any business there is a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice that goes into it. I am working towards better balance in February, and so far so good, but January was anything but.

One of my mentors said to me “I don’t think it is ever possible to have true balance.” I agree with here. Some day/weeks/months I am more focused on my family and the blog doesn’t do as well. Other days/weeks/months I focus on my blog and my family and my house suffer. It’s the constant push-pull of being a working wife and mother. I know it won’t always be this way and that all my hard work up front, will make sure that is true.

Takeaway: Give yourself grace all the time. You are doing hard stuff, I am doing hard stuff. Try to remember what’s most important– your family, your people. If you find them getting the short end of the stick, take a few hours off from the blog, from Facebook, and focus only on their faces. I find when I do this even in the midst of a crazy time, that I can fill them up and they feel loved. My husband included.

2. Growing My Email List

I wanted to grow my email list by 800 subscribers this month. It sooooo did not happen! Like not even close. I increased it by 101 people. I am okay with that. I saw early on that it wasn’t going to happen because I wasn’t focusing on it.

Also to increase an email list by that many people you have to have an opt-in offer that is doing really well and a lot of traffic to it. I think my main opt-in offer needs a reboot. I have some thoughts on this for February, maybe March.

Takeaway: What you focus on grows period. I did not focus on growing my email list in January which is why I didn’t hit my goal. I am happy that it increased by 101 people though!

3. Missed on my Personal Goals

Outside of my blogging goals I also have personal goals, hard to believe right? I want to tithe more to our church, lose weight, spend more quality time with God, more time with my husband, and one on one time with my kids. Not a lot of my personal goals got met this month because I was so hyper focused on the blog. Again there’s a balance and sometimes that balance is going to be off. It happens.

Takeaway: Again I am going to go with the word grace. I am and you are doing the best we can. As long as we are trying, and trying to improve ourselves, we are headed in the right direction. I do hope that I can focus on meeting some more personal goals this month as they are important to me too.

4. Behind on Emails

I get a lot of emails from my blog readers and the women inside the Women Winning Online Facebook group. I love every single one of them. That you all would take your time to email me and ask me questions means a lot! I love our personal conversations.

But in January I fell completely behind in answering the emails I received. I feel so bad about it too but there are only so many hours in a day and again, grace. I have them flagged in my email system so I remember to go back and answer every single one. Every single email matters to me. True.

Takeaway: You can’t do all the things. Prioritizing is important when you are growing a blog. If you fall behind on talking to your readers be honest with them and let them know why. They are human just like you and they will understand. And to my readers– thank you for understanding!

The beginning of the month is here and that means a blog income report! I love blog income reports because they help hold me accountable, show me what I have accomplished, and where I need to grow. Each month I share marketing strategies that I try to grow my blog and business. I share ideas that I tried and then what worked and didn’t work. My hope is that my blog income reports show my wins, losses, and lessons that will help you on your blogging journey too!

One Word to Describe December: Chill

The Numbers: December

Category

November

December

Growth/Loss

Visitors (Users)

1,004

667

-1,165

Returning Visitors

31.64%

22.80%

-8.84%%

Pageviews

5,225

1,470

-3,775

Bounce Rate

54.20%***

71.48%

***

Newsletter Subscribers

1,156

1,264

+108

Women Winning Online Facebook Group

1,899

2,162

+263

Twitter Followers

2,289

2,298

+9

Facebook Fans

246

247

+1

Pinterest Followers

1,571

1,732

+161

******My stats were funky in November. I got hit by a Russian spammer. JOY! I want to always be real with you guys and share with you my real stats. My bounce rate is completely off because of it and I can’t figure it out. My guess is it is closer to 71% for November.

I have four main goals for my blog:

Help people through my writing and services.

Increase pageviews every month.

Increase my email list every month.

Earn an income through services, classes, products, reviews, and advertisements.

Let’s take a look at how I did meeting my goals this month!

Are you ready to start your own blog? Awesome! You are going to be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

December’s Posts

December Goals Win or Miss?

My goals for December are not very big. It is the holiday season and planning season for me. My focus is on working with my Society ladies, prepping my business for 2017, and most importantly enjoying my family during the holidays without stressing about my business.

8. Strategic Plan for January 2017: Win

Number of People I Served in November: 3,426 people! (yes!)

December Income Report

Note some of these links are affiliate links including items I have personally used. Please see my affiliate disclosure here. If you have any questions about my income or expenses please leave me a comment below!

Previous Income Reports

Blog Income Report: What Worked

1. Taking Time Off

My plan for December was to take the month off and not work too hard. I wanted to spend the time enjoying the holidays with my family. Truthfully I didn’t want to add more things to do during this busy season in our lives. Not only is it everything with the holidays but we also have school events and a break thrown into the mix, plus spending time with our friends and family.

I made a decision mid-fall that I would take most of December off. I wanted to not put this pressure on myself and my family to try to get a whole lot done for my business during this season. Instead I spent time connecting with my kids and my husband. I slept more, read more books, and enjoyed cozy nights by the fire. It was just what my mind, body, and soul needed during this busy time. I feel fortunate that I work in a business where I can afford to take that kind of time off!

Takeaway: When we work online it is far, far too easy to be on all the time. When we work at home it is too easy to always try to squeeze in more work. I am a sucker for this. One more post, one more glance at the phone, one more until I am no longer present at home. My biggest takeaway is take the time to step away from the blog sometimes and spend it with the people you love. You may not get to your blogging destination faster, but you will enjoy your life and your people more and isn’t that what matters the most?! My whole goal is to be successful with my blog. But if I get to the top and I am alone, what’s the point? Take time for your people and take them on the journey with you.

2. Strategy Sessions

Now even though I wasn’t hard at work writing new posts or doing a lot of promotions, there was something fun I was working hard on. The Society of Winning Women Strategy Sessions. My friend Elizabeth challenged me not to take the whole month off just for me. But to find a way that I could help women and help them figure out their goals for 2017.

Not one to back down from a challenge I thought why not? If I can get a small group of women together, do a weekly Q&A, and help them with their goals, that would be fun! So I did just that!

I created a four week mastermind group where we had a Q&A thread every Thursday and worked on our 90 day goals. I was there during the week to help with any other questions they had. I shared tips that I was using in my blog to help me grow. I launched this idea on December 1st with a kickoff of December 8th. I had seven women join and I was so happy!

It was the perfect size group for a small mastermind! I find in these smaller mastermind sessions that people are more comfortable being open and vulnerable with each other. I had a lot of fun working more closely with these women and am thinking about doing something like this more often. I also think a lot of them got more clear on exactly where they are headed in 2017 and that was fun to watch too!

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and try something different with your blog especially if you can help people. Look at your blog and business. What 4 week mini-challenges can you run? How can you think outside of the box to help people and bring money into your business? Also, take the time to network with other people. I would have never tried this idea if my friend Elizabeth hadn’t pushed me to do it. Thank you Elizabeth!

3. Planning Time for 2017

If you have been following me for an length of time you know I am a planner. I always joke that my lists have lists. 🙂 (They do by the way!) One of my most favorite things to do since I was a little girl is planning for the New Year. I have never been one to do resolutions because I don’t think they work, but I do love setting goals for the upcoming year.

Something I have been struggling with in my blog is not having the time to set goals and make plans. For the last several months I have felt like an assistant of my blog instead of the CEO. I was just working to get things done instead of being strategic and focusing on my long term goals. It was frustrating me quite a bit.

At the beginning of December my husband came up with a great idea. He realized that college and high school kids would be on break for part of this month. He said “why don’t you see if some of our sitters can come in and watch the kids so you can work?”

Brilliant idea! What I heard was “Why don’t you have our sitters come in so you can go to a quiet place in the library and plan out your 2017 goals?” It was like music to my ears and that’s just what I did! The last two weeks of 2016 I had sitters come in for 4-5 hours, three days a week to watch the kids. I took off for the library and locked myself in a tiny room with windows and wrote and plotted and planned. The end result was a plan that I am excited about for my blog and a plan that I know in my heart will help other women! I came away from that time so pumped for what 2017 holds!

Now that this post is written a week into the New Year I have to say that the time I took to do the planning has paid off. I am more focused, I have my goals hanging on my wall, and I know exactly how I am going to grow and help people. This was the best thing I could have done for my blog and business!

Takeaway: As bloggers there comes a point where we need to put down the blog posts, walk away from the social media, and focus on our goals. What do we want to get out of our blogs? What do we want to accomplish? More importantly who do we want to help and how will we get there? The best thing you can do for the health and growth of your blog is to step away from all the noise and create a plan to grow. If you haven’t done this for 2017 it’s not too late! Take a Saturday off, hit up the library, and plan until you can’t plan anymore. Break down your yearly goals into monthly and weekly tasks. Hang them up proudly to remind yourself what you want to accomplish. It’s an awesome way to stay motivated every single day!

4. Not Writing

Can I be honest with you? The last few months I haven’t loved my blog posts. They were shorter than I prefer and not as helpful as I want them to be. They also didn’t feel like they flowed together. The posts seemed random. I wasn’t following my own advice of following a content calendar. I was sitting down to write just to write, instead of writing with a focus in mind.

So in December I took the month off from writing blog posts. I published one income report because I want to stay consistent with that. I made a decision that unless I was writing posts that flowed together and were helpful, that I wasn’t going to write. My readers deserve better than that and so does my blog.

Taking the month off from writing was so therapeutic for me! It made me realize how much I love to write, how much I need to write! But I also need to know I am putting meaningful words out there and not words that are cluttering the Internet. I also knew I didn’t have that in me for the month of December. Like I mentioned above December was all about my family, the holidays, the strategy sessions, and planning for 2017. It kind of felt good to focus on those things so I could come back in January 2017 with killer posts that make a difference!

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to take a break from writing blog posts. If writing posts starts to feel like a hard slog it is okay to take a break. Your blog will always be here. Sometimes taking a break from writing is the best thing you can do for your blog. You will come back refreshed with content that will blow people away. There are no rules to this blogging game so feel free to give yourself some time off from writing when you need it!

Blog Income Report: What Didn’t Work

Before I jump into what didn’t work I want to add a note onto this. I had a hard time coming up with what didn’t work because overall I am pleased with how December went. No it wasn’t my highest month for income and numbers, but I accomplished exactly what I set out to do. That being said there is always room to improve which is why I kept this section in for this month. 🙂

1. Not Writing

What? How can not writing fit into the worked and didn’t work category? For starters, while not writing worked for me personally, it didn’t work for the blog. When I share a new blog post every week I get more pageviews, more email subscribers, and more people purchasing Find Your Tribe Online. I share the post with my email subscribers and the Women Winning Online Facebook group. Doing those things brings people back to my blog.

It’s not that people didn’t visit my blog, it’s that I didn’t get a lot of new traffic either. I knew I wouldn’t if I sacrificed my writing and I was okay with it. But I definitely had a dip in my numbers because of it.

Takeaway: Writing consistent posts is important to the health of our blogs. Our new material draws new people in and brings older visitors back. It gives people the opportunity to read our new material and visit our old stuff while they are there. When we aren’t consistent with our writing it can hurt our numbers. Like I mentioned above it is perfectly fine to take a break and you should, but overall consistency with your writing is part of what will help your blog grow!

2. Not Feeling Well

This part is scary. I am scared to put this out into the world for fear of what you will think of me and how you will perceive me going forward. But my goal is to be 100% transparent with you and well with me too. I have hidden so much in the shadows for too many years and I don’t want to do that anymore.

Someday I will write the whole story, but because of my traumatic childhood, I suffer from depression as well as post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Those are my official diagnoses anyway. I spent all of 2015 plus 2016 deep in therapy working through things and working on me. I was put on medication in 2015 and able to go off of it in the first part of 2016. Things were going amazing until this fall when the darkness started to creep back in. My husband noticed it first and I think I was hesitant to see that it was coming back. I had done so much work and it felt like I was going backwards.

But I wasn’t okay. No matter that I wished the depression wasn’t back, it was, and I needed to deal with it. I have worked too hard to get better and feel better and I wasn’t willing to go back. Plus my kids and my husband deserve more. Heck, I deserve more.

I put this out there to show that I am human and that outside of blogging I have a real life that isn’t always pretty. But my driving force for putting this out there is for you. Mental illness is real and it is not something to be ashamed of. Too much shame is put on those that suffer.

One of my purposes in life is to help erase that stigma. Erasing that stigma starts with me and me being honest with you. For part of December I didn’t engage with people because I simply couldn’t. My depression was full blown and it took everything I had to function some days. I want you to know that you are not alone. I am here with you and I am here for you. If you ever find yourself so down you can’t get up, I am here for you. I know how it feels. I have lived it, I have experienced it, and I still am. There are people in my real life that have lifted me up during this time. There are people online that have lifted me up during this time. I am here to be that person for you. You are not alone.

I am 100% grateful for the time we live in and the people around me. I have a very astute therapist who saw this happening and put me back on my depression medication. Is it something I will be on forever? Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that the medicine, along with a lot of prayer and Jesus, good therapy, a loving husband, and supportive friends, I am back to feeling like me. And oh am I so grateful! When I am well and I am me I can give so much to the world and take in so much for me. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not endured. We are meant to thrive, not to survive. We are supposed to feel good!

Takeaway: Above all make sure you are taking care of yourself. Whether or not you have a mental illness, please take care of you. You are no good to anyone if you aren’t taking care of yourself. And if you do suffer from a mental illness and need a friend, please know my door is always open. I get it and I am here for you without any judgement.

3. Not Promoting

For the month of December I think I promoted my blog like three times. I didn’t do any promo days in Facebook groups. I didn’t go into groups and help people. I didn’t even have my Tailwind queue filled up! I let it lapse after the first few days in December.

Part of this was the fact that I was laying low in December. Part of it was I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t have the energy to do it. I am okay with this. I think I have said it enough, but I needed the break and that is okay! My break resulted in low numbers for my blog and I am okay with it.

Takeaway: There is this myth out there that we can blog and people will just show up. Wrong! The “build it and they will come” theory does not work for blogging. You have to be out there promoting your blog whether it’s in Facebook groups or on Pinterest. There is nothing passive about blogging. When you don’t promote your blog people don’t know you are there so take time every week to get out there and show off your blog!

7. Sell 50 copies of Find Your Tribe Online Course (coming soon!)

8. Be visible online every single day

Do Facebook livestream 3 times a week in Women Winning Online.

Ask questions in my top 3-5 Facebook groups 3 times a week.

Answer questions in my top 3-5 Facebook groups 3 times a week.

I am so excited for a rocking January! I can’t wait to get out there and help more women drive more traffic to their blogs! I can’t wait to fully get back into my writing! It doesn’t look like a lot to do on paper, but somehow I always find myself running short on time. I hope your January is off to a great start!

What are your goals for January and how did your December go? I would love to hear about it! Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you for taking the time to leave your comments!

December 2016 Income Report was last modified: February 6th, 2017 by Jen Snyder

The beginning of the month is here and that means a blog income report! I love blog income reports because they help hold me accountable, show me what I have accomplished, and where I need to grow. Each month I share marketing strategies that I try to grow my blog and business. I share ideas that I tried and then what worked and didn’t work. My hope is that my blog income reports show my wins, losses, and lessons that will help you on your blogging journey too!

One Word to Describe November: Steady

The Numbers: November

Category

October

November

Growth/Loss

Visitors (Users)

1,986

1,004

-982

Returning Visitors

32.77%

31.64%

-3.44%

Pageviews

4,826

5,225

+399

Bounce Rate

71.77%

54.20%

***

Newsletter Subscribers

1,057

1,156

+99

Women Winning Online Facebook Group

1,591

1,899

+308

Twitter Followers

2,200

2,289

+89

Facebook Fans

237

246

+9

Pinterest Followers

1,386

1,571

+185

***My stats were funky in November and I am guessing in October too. I got hit by a Russian spammer. JOY! I want to always be real with you guys and share with you my real stats. They dropped in some key areas this month because I took out the spammers. Also my bounce rate is completely off because of it and I can’t figure it out. My guess is it is closer to 71%. For more on how to remove the spammers from your analytics, check out this post in the Women Winning Online Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenwinningonline/permalink/1784636895131641

I have four main goals for my blog:

Help people through my writing and services.

Increase pageviews every month.

Increase my email list every month.

Earn an income through services, classes, products, reviews, and advertisements.

Let’s take a look at how I did meeting my goals this month!

Are you ready to start your own blog? Awesome! You are going to be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

Outline plan for The 30 Day Marketing Plan for Bloggers Facebook group: Miss

Outline plan for Find Your Tribe Online Facebook group: Miss

11. Strategic Plan for January 2017: In Progress

How I am going to pour more value into my tribe (content, Facebook lives, email, etc.)

Plans for launching programs for 2017

Number of People I Served in November: 3,055 people (yay!)

November Income Report

Note some of these links are affiliate links including items I have personally used. Please see my affiliate disclosure here. If you have any questions about my income or expenses please leave me a comment below!

Net Income: +$1,518.66

I have to say November was an awesome month for getting deals for my business! I spent more than I normally do, but the tools and resources I bought will help me grow in 2017. You have to spend money to make money!

Are you ready to start your own blog? You should! You will be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

Previous Income Reports

Blog Income Report: What Worked

1. Taking Time Off

For a lot of October I felt muddled. I couldn’t figure out the direction of my business and where I wanted to go. I couldn’t feel the right direction to take to help people. Part of the problem is that I was in survivor mode. I was doing what I had to get done as fast as I could because I didn’t have a lot of time to work. So it was just go, go, go.

I am a dreamer. I like to dream big and think about the big picture. The possibilities and the strategies I want to try. When I don’t have time to do that I feel stifled. It also gets me stuck pretty quickly.

The second week of November my husband and I had an opportunity to get away for the weekend to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We dropped the kids off at my in-laws in Chicago after a 7 hour road trip from Minneapolis. Then we hightailed it to the Kohler Spa in Kohler, Wisconsin.

I tell you, not even an hour outside of Minneapolis, the ideas started to flow. It became pretty clear to me on where I want Women Winning Online to go and how I am going to help women. It was great because the kids were asleep and I was able to talk to my husband about the business. It was uninterrupted quiet time with no kids and no phones. My husband is a huge support to me and Women Winning Online. Plus he knows me well and knows what fires me up. He gave me his advice and helped me see through the muddled feelings I’d been having.

This makes me so fired up for 2017! I feel clear, I feel like I can help women, I feel like I can make a difference. I am excited!

Takeaway: If you are feeling stuck, step away from your computer, your kids, your house. Take a day or two if you can and think. Think about what you want your life to look like and how your blog and business fit into it. Think about your big picture and what you love doing best. Talk to your person that knows you so well and can help you. Take some time and journal if that helps you get clear. The more strategic we can be about our blogs and businesses, the more successful we will become and most importantly, the more people we can help!

Mom Takeaway: So many people have told me to travel with your kids at night instead of during the day. This is the first time we have ever done it and it was amazing! They watched movies, they slept, and we got peace and quiet to talk. Oh and the “are we there yet?!” question was asked about 90% less. It was great and I wish we would have done this sooner!

This opt-in worked because I listened to my tribe. They are overwhelmed by all the marketing ideas that are out there for bloggers and business owners. They don’t know what to do first because there is so much information. It’s hard to be consistent because shiny object syndrome pulls us in different directions.

When I heard these struggles I immediately thought they need a list, a plan on how to do marketing every week for their blogs and businesses. And with that, the 7 day marketing plan was born.

Takeaway: Take the time to listen to your audience. What are they struggling with, what do they need help with? If you ask them, they will tell you. Then create a freebie that will help them. Not one that will sit and collect dust. But one that will cause them to take action and get results.

3. Tailwind

So since I have started to use Tailwind, Pinterest has started to like me. My Pinterest traffic is finally increasing every month. Finally! I know I have a lot more that I want to do to keep this trend happening, but I am happy to see it is working at all!

I love that I can schedule my pins easily with Tailwind. I love the analytics and to see which pins are getting the most attention. I know for a fact that if I wasn’t using a scheduler for Pinterest I would get very little traffic from Pinterest. If you are serious about growing your blog traffic you must have a Pinterest scheduler like Tailwind.. (By the way did you know if you sign up for Tailwind using my affiliate link you can try it free for 30 days?! Yup! Check it out here: AFFILIATE LINK)

Takeaway: Take the time to sit down and figure out how to use Tailwind for your blog. I am so thankful that I did because it brings me traffic even when I am not out there promoting my blog.

4. Facebook Promos

For the first three weeks of November I focused hard on Facebook promo days. I went into different Facebook groups every day and participated in their promo threads. The difference is this time I sent people to my landing page for my different freebie reports. I didn’t want to send them to a blog post where it would be a one and done visit.

In the month of November my list grew by 99 people, and the majority of the traffic came from the Facebook promo days. This was definitely a strategy that worked for me and my blog!

Takeaway: Be smart when participating in promos in Facebook groups. Instead of linking to your latest blog posts, link to your landing page and freebie instead. After people sign up then direct them to your 10 best blog posts. But capture that traffic first by getting their email address. This increases the likelihood that they will become frequent visitors of your blog!

5. Focusing during my 2 hour sprints

Every day I am guaranteed 2 hours to work on my blog and business. It is not a lot and I have to focus in on what I am going to get done during those two hours. If I don’t I find myself lost in my Facebook groups and the two hours are gone. And I am frustrated!

I will be the first to admit that I am not as focused as I could be during this time. But in November I had a different experience. Before we went on our trip, I had to get things done so that I didn’t have to work while we were gone. So during my two hour time blocks I really focused. I would work for 30 minutes, take a 5 minute break, and repeat the cycle. 30 minutes on, 5 minutes off.

It worked like a charm! I got so much done during those two hour time blocks. It was great!

Takeaway: Most of us women do not have all the time we want to work on our blogs and businesses. We are busy moms working in and outside of the home, in addition to working our blogs/businesses. The best thing we can do for ourselves is really focus when we have time to work. Don’t try to do too much during your time blocks. Focus on 1-2 tasks that you know you can get done. Completing these tasks makes you feel more productive and like you got a lot done. It helps you stay motivated to keep up with it too!

6. De-cluttering My House

True confession: My house has been a nightmare of clutter. When you live and work in your home 24/7 like I do, it will make you crazy. I felt like every corner I spotted in my house had crap in it. It was making me INSANE. I couldn’t focus on work and I felt on edge a lot.

So I stopped working and started cleaning. More accurately I started throwing things away. I went room-by-room and nothing was spared. I cleaned and decluttered like my life depended on it.

Then when that was done I had a talk with my family. Together we clean and take care of our home. The kids realized that the more we worked together on it, the more time mom and dad would have to spend with them. That and a handy little chore chart meant everyone pitches in. And yes it make my Type A heart flutter because my girls are motivated by chore charts and lists like their mom. The jury is still out on the boy 😉

Once this all came together I looked back at what happened. How did our home get so crazy out of control? Two reasons: summer and work. Here in Minnesota we treat the entire months of June, July, and August like a giant holiday. People leave work early, they don’t work Fridays, and it’s great. We suffer a cold existence the other 9 months so we soak up all of our 3 months of bliss. For the Snyder family that meant more playing this summer and less cleaning. Looking back I am okay with that. I am hopeful that I have steps put into place where it doesn’t get so crazy again, but I am grateful for the memories we made this summer.

Then work got out of control for both my husband and I. I was launching new programs and services. He was starting a new career. By the end of the night and the weekends we were too tired to do much of anything.

Takeaway: A cluttered house can make it hard to get anything done in life or business. Take the time to clear the clutter and put systems in place to control it in the future. It will make a difference in your productivity.

7. Facebook App

A few days after the election here in the United States, I did something that made me feel so much better. I deleted the Facebook app off of my phone.

WHAT?! You can’t delete Facebook from your phone! You need it. You must have Facebook.

Yup, I deleted the Facebook app from my phone and I am much happier for it. I was sick and tired of everyone ringing their hands over the election. No matter what your position is, at some point, all the Facebook threads in the world are not going to change what happened.

I got tired of all the comments and the news stories, both real and fake, and said I don’t need this anymore. Or at least I don’t need to be so close to it. So I deleted the app off my phone.

Now I have several Facebook groups that I need to stay in touch with including Women Winning Online and The Society of Winning Women. My fix for that? The Facebook groups app. I can use that app and stay in touch with my tribe, without having to see my Facebook newsfeed. Same with the Facebook messenger app.

Does that mean I am off Facebook for good? Nope. But I only check my newsfeed every once in awhile from my laptop. It has been quite the liberating experience!

Takeaway: If you think something is sucking up too much of your time, experiment and cut it out of your life. Try it for 7, 10, 14 days and see how it works for you. Maybe for you it is getting sucked into Pinterest. Or maybe it is Facebook like it was for me. Try taking a break and seeing how much better you feel! If it doesn’t work you can always add it back into your life!

It is way, way too hard to give it my all when I have all these groups. I also feel like I am doing a disservice to some of the women in these groups and that makes me feel awful. But I have spread myself too thin and I am not sure what I am going to do about it. I just know as it sits, having four Facebook groups does not work.

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to experiment with your blog and business, but also don’t be afraid to cut ties with what isn’t working. Most of us, actually all of us, are learning new things and trying things to see what works. We are going to fail far more than we succeed, but we will learn far more from those failures, than the wins.

2. Not Celebrating My Wins

I have a really bad habit. I am not good at celebrating my wins. I am much better at looking at what I did wrong and ruminating over that. It’s not healthy! Nor is it going to bring me the positive mindset I need to survive in business. Plus it is just not nice to me! I would never let my kids talk about themselves that way and I need to tell myself the same thing.

But I think part of what is to blame for this is the culture in blogging and online business. We see people posting about getting 3,000 new email subscribers in three months or launching their first program and making $10,000.

Rarely do those same people share with us the struggles, mistakes, and failures they had on the way to those big numbers. They make it look so easy and like there is something wrong with us if we can’t accomplish the same thing. This is a blog post topic all on it’s own!

So because of that we, or at least I do, feel less than when 20 people buy my product or I have 100 new subscribers a month. That is not okay. First I need to celebrate every single person that signs up for my list or buys one of my programs. They took a leap of faith on me and believed in me. That deserves to be celebrated!

Second, I am building a business one step at a time, helping one person at a time. That has always been my dream and my plan this entire time. Based on that goal I am right on track!

Takeaway: Celebrate every single win that you get in your blog and business. Do not minimize your successes because someone else has done more than you. We are all on different journeys to reach our dreams. Don’t compare yourself to others and stay focused on what you are doing to grow your blog and business.

3. No Editorial Calendar

My editorial calendar has been well, lacking to say the least. I always advise my clients to operate from an editorial calendar. When you don’t have an editorial calendar your blog appears choppy and not put together as it could.

Which is exactly how my blog feels right now. I feel like I was on track with my editorial calendar this summer and then got away from it. There wasn’t a real strategy to what I was writing about. I still think my posts were good, but they didn’t work together very well. My goal in 2017 is to make my blog posts more strategic and much more helpful to my readers.

Takeaway: When you don’t have an editorial calendar your blog can seem all over the place. Plus it is harder to connect the posts to one another. It is best to plan an editorial calendar three months in advance, leaving some wiggle room for new ideas that come up.

4. Goals Disconnect

I love when I write goals in these income reports. But they only work when I am connected to them. In the month of November I think I looked at my goal list once so I didn’t accomplish all that I set out to do. There was a complete disconnect between creating the goals and implementing them. I think I need to print them out every month so I can see them and remember what I want to do.

Takeaway: Goals don’t work so well when you write them down and forget about them. I know to succeed and see wins in my business I need to stay focused on my goals. And for me that means having my goals where I can see them!

November Goals

My goals for December are not very big. It is the holiday season and planning season for me. My focus is on working with my Society ladies, prepping my business for 2017, and most importantly enjoying my family during the holidays without stressing about my business.

How I am going to pour more value into my tribe (content, Facebook lives, email, etc.)

Plans for launching programs for 2017

As of the writing of this post we are halfway through December. I am already loving the more laid back approach this month as I know January will be a big month! How about you? What are your goals for December and how was your November?

November 2016 Income Report was last modified: December 12th, 2016 by Jen Snyder

The beginning of the month is here and that means a blog income report! I love blog income reports because they help hold me accountable, show me what I have accomplished, and where I need to grow. Each month I share marketing strategies that I try to grow my blog and business. I share ideas that I tried and then what worked and didn’t work. My hope is that my blog income reports show my wins, losses, and lessons that will help you on your blogging journey too!

One Word to Describe October: Regroup

The Numbers: October Stats

Category

September

October

Growth/Loss

Visitors (Users)

2,378

1,986

-392

Returning Visitors

36.33%

32.77%

-3.56%

Pageviews

5,876

4,826

+1,050

Bounce Rate

73.90%

71.77%

-2.88%

Newsletter Subscribers

931

1,057

+126

Women Winning Online Facebook Group

1,234

1,591

+357

Twitter Followers

2,137

2,200

+63

Facebook Fans

226

237

+11

Pinterest Followers

1,156

1,386

+230

Top 10 Sources for October Traffic

I have four main goals for my blog:

Help people earn an income online through my writing and services.

Increase pageviews every month.

Increase my email list every month.

Earn an income through services, classes, products, reviews and advertisements.

Let’s take a look at how I did meeting my goals this month!

Are you ready to start your own blog? Awesome! You are going to be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just minutes!

October Goals Win or Fail?

Use Tailwind for my Pinterest strategy: Win-ish (Didn’t use the last week)

Include posts in my weekly email newsletter: Win

Do dedicated promo days in Facebook groups: Win-ish (Missed a week)

Share on Twitter: Miss

2. Publish: Win-ish

2 marketing/business posts: Win

1 personal posts: Miss

1 goal post (this one!): Win

3. Grow to 1,000 email subscribers: Win 1,057!

Promote lead magnet in Facebook groups: Win-ish

Add all lead magnets to Pinterest, create board for them on Pinterest: Miss

Update end of post opt-in to Grow Blog Traffic lead magnet: Win

Run one Facebook ad: Miss

Share daily on Twitter: Miss

Share once a week in my Facebook group: Miss

4. Grow Facebook group to 1,350 women: Win 1,591!

Continue to promote through email opt-in thank you page: Win

Promote in Facebook groups where allowed: Miss

Promote on Twitter and Pinterest: Miss

5. Sell 150 “Find Your Tribe Online” Miss, Sold 45

Promote weekly in my Facebook group: Miss

Update sales funnel autoresponder: Miss

Promote in other Facebook groups: Miss

Share a portion for free with my email list: Miss

Do one case study from a blogger who has had success with it: Win

Run contest with affiliates: Miss

6. Turn Find Your Tribe Online into mini-course: Miss

Create Facebook group: Miss

Update spreadsheet data: Miss

Add 3-4 more niches: Miss

Create mini-course with modules: Miss

7. Focus on Pinterest: Miss

Follow my “Pinterest Plan”: Miss

How Many People I Helped

There is something that has been bugging me with these income reports. I was talking to my friend Debra Trappen about this and she nailed it for me. It’s all about money. How much did I make? Blech. Deb said “Jen that’s not you. You aren’t about money, you are about helping people. Instead of tallying an income report or in addition to doing one, why don’t you also talk about the people you have helped?”

I love Debra! We’ve only known each other a short time but she knows me so well! My husband says this to me all the time. If I make it about the money I will be miserable. When I make it about helping people, everything changes and I am so happy!

The problem is I don’t know how to quantify it. I am not a McDonald’s drive thru. I can’t count how many people I have served everyday! Beyond that I could help someone who in turn took my advice and used it to help 10 people.

So I am going to continue to think on this. Do I share testimonials I receive and count those as people I have helped? Do I just total the people in my Facebook group and on my email list? What about the people in other Facebook groups that I help?

See my dilemma?! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this. Please feel free to comment below or send me an email telling me what you think. I will also ask in the Women Winning Online Facebook group too.

For this month I am going to add the women in my Facebook group and the people on my email list as the people I have helped.

Number of People I Served in October: 2,648 people (wow!)

Income Report

Note some of these links are affiliate links including items I have personally used. Please see my affiliate disclosure here. If you have any questions about my income or expenses please leave me a comment below!

Net Income: +$1,421.77

Are you ready to start your own blog? You should! You will be great at it! Check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to get your blog up and running in just 10 minutes!

Blog Income Report: What Worked

1. Find Your Tribe Online

Find Your Tribe Online is like it’s own force of nature at this point and it amazes me. It continues to sell without me pushing it very hard. I always include it in the P.S. in my weekly email and get a few sales on Sundays and Mondays. I promoted it a couple times in the Women Winning Online Facebook group. Other than that it is selling from people visiting my website, as part of my email automation, and from my awesome affiliates.

I did do one thing different this month. I wrote a case study for Find Your Tribe Online. I had 20 bloggers tell me their story about why they bought it, what they did with FYTO, and their results. Their results are incredible if I do say so myself! This case study also got people excited to try Find Your Tribe Online.

The number one reason Find Your Tribe Online is selling? Because it works. The testimonials are incredible for this product and they are selling it for me. I am so grateful for the incredible feedback I am getting on this program.

The other reason it is selling? Because people do not have the time to do all the research I have done. It took me 60+ hours to research the best Pinterest groups boards, Facebook groups, and top bloggers for the 15 niches FYTO covers. People do not have that kind of time so instead they are smart. They purchase Find Your Tribe Online and spend time implementing the data instead of wasting time researching the data. Time is money right?

Takeaway: Take the time to really, really get to know your audience. Find out what they need help with and how you can help them. Create a simple product that solves their needs. Launch it, promote it, get testimonials for it. Then let your hard work speak for itself. But find that one thing that your audience needs and create it!

2. My Weekly Email

I could be sick in bed, out of town, or not in the mood, and no matter what I am sending an email newsletter. Why? Because hands down my email followers are what keep me going. They are the most loyal women on the planet! They send me emails back when I share I am having a rough week and encourage me. They read my blog posts, they buy my programs.

Why? Because I invest in them first. Every week without fail I send out my weekly email newsletter. This week I sent out my 29th email newsletter. That means 29 weeks of content. And this is bonus content that only goes to my email subscribers. That’s a lot of content! But it is worth it to give to my email followers and I love doing it. In turn they give back to me when I ask them to. It’s a win-win relationship!

Takeaway: If you could only pick one of my suggestions to implement it would be to get an email list AND email them! Don’t get a large list and then do nothing with it. Invest in your people and and they will invest in you when you ask them to. Make it part of your schedule to send out a weekly email newsletter above and beyond your blog post. Don’t just email them when you want something from them. Pour value into them every single week because you want to, not because you want something from them.

3. PostPlanner

Oh have I been turned onto a tool that I am in love with! My good friend Debra Trappen connected me with the fabulous Rebekah Radice. Rebekah works with PostPlanner and she gave me a private demo of this amazing tool. Seriously it is a game changer for bloggers and anyone working online.

Loop my posts to share again on my social media sites. (This alone made me fall in love!)

Find the top content that influencers are sharing and share it on my social media sites.

Recycle my posts for my Facebook groups which saves me a ton of time. (OMG this is amazing!)

Find the top engaging posts on the web in different categories and share them with my audience.

And this only scratches the surface! PostPlanner is a game changer for me and it will be a game changer for you. I promise! Rebekah will be doing an exclusive webinar for the Women Winning Online crew (my group + email list) so make sure you are on my email list to find out when it is!

Takeaway: Get PostPlanner today. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just get PostPlanner now. First of all it’s $9 a month. It’s features put both HootSuite and Buffer to shame. Lock in this price before the awesome people at PostPlanner realize they should be charging more. In all seriousness it will save you time when scheduling your social media posts, which you should be doing every week. Make it easier on yourself by using PostPlanner.

4. Tailwind

Tailwind has saved me when it comes to sharing my content on Pinterest. I have a schedule set up where I pin about 28 pins of my own content every day. Because of this Pinterest sent 368 new people to my blog in October. Cool I will take it!

I started to play with BoardBooster at the end of the month and shut off Tailwind. I noticed a huge decrease in traffic because of it. I love the idea of BoardBooster but I did something wrong because I was spamming boards. Not cool! So I went back in for November and set up my pins for Tailwind until I can spend more time on BoardBooster.

Takeaway: The number one source of traffic for every blogger should be Pinterest. In order to make that happen a scheduler is a must. Right now I recommend Tailwind. It is what has worked for me over the last few months. I hope to incorporate BoardBooster too in the next couple of months. Either way I am investing in tools that will help me on Pinterest and I think this is a must for any blogger!

5. Taking the online, offline.

My best days blogging are when I can take the online, offline. I am in a group coaching program myself called Profit Track. There is another women in the group that was struggling with the same kind of things I was in September and the first part of October. So we hopped on the phone.

This is one of the best decisions I made this month! Talking to Elizabeth and finding a like-minded online business woman and busy mom of soon-to-be 3 kids was a Godsend for me! It helped to share our struggles and help each other figure out what we liked and didn’t like about our business. Our conversation plus our Facebook messages after helped me really figure out where I want to take Women Winning Online in 2017.

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to step out from your computer and connect with people offline. Find people that are like you that you can connect with. Find out what they are struggling with or what they like/don’t like about their blogs and businesses. Simply put, make a business friend! This will be the person you can bounce ideas off of, someone who you can help and in kind will help you. Plus it makes blogging and online business less lonely. 🙂

Blog Income Report: What Didn’t Work

1. Not having a nanny

Oh my gosh am I struggling without a nanny. S-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g. It is so bad. We had to fire our last nanny because she was late every time she came to our house and then the kicker, she didn’t buckle the four year old in her car seat. What?! The four year old was proud of herself for pulling a fast one on the nanny. I was thankful the four year old made it home in one piece. But buckling a kid in a car seat is a fundamental task when taking care of kids so unfortunately we had to let her go.

I had this grand idea that I could do it all on my own. I would just work at the gym, on Saturdays, and a few nights a week.

HAHAHAHA

That’s hilarious!

Yes I can work on simple tasks during those times but I cannot write blog posts, do Facebook lives, plan content, educate myself, and strategize for my business. All of those things are important to growing a business. By the time I sit down to do those things I am so exhausted. Plus I need to network with other bloggers and hold strategy sessions with my clients.

I am waving the white flag, Bill I am putting it in writing, I cannot do it all. I need help. I need a nanny.

Takeaway: Raise your hand if you are a woman that thinks “Oh no big deal. I can do this. I can do that. I can do everything. I’m a woman/mom/superhero.” Yes you are a superhero, but no you cannot do it all. Even superheros have sidekicks. You can try to do it all but you will be exhausted, miserable, and not the best you that you can be for anyone. Is that what you want? Me either.

Consider getting help. Yes it may cost you some money, but what if you can spend that time away on money making activities? It will be a win-win. If you can’t afford help, get to know someone in your area and look at swapping time or services. Do whatever you can to get help because you deserve it!

2. Not having a plan at first

I left September still feeling unfocused. What is it that I want for myself? What do I want Women Winning Online to look like? What kind of business do I want to run? How am I supposed to help women? Is it courses, coaching, programs, what?

Not having a clear goal made me unmotivated to push through every day. It felt like a hard slog and I hated that. When I am focused on an end result of helping people and knowing how I am going to do it, everything I do every day has purpose. That is a must for me.

Takeaway: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This small sentence is powerful and it is true. Yes it is okay to figure out what works for you and how you are going to grow your business. But you must have a plan. Without a plan you lose focus, determination, and some days the will to keep working on it. Give yourself time to stare and day dream about what you want your business to look like. Give yourself time to create a 30 day, 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month plan. Then act on it!

3. Focusing on one product

Ah running an online business is a huge experiment! In September I felt that I had too many things to sell. Three things to be exact and it felt like too much. So for October I was going to focus on one product to sell, Find Your Tribe Online.

Nope that didn’t work either! By focusing on one product I was putting all my eggs in one basket. Doing this put a lot of pressure on me everyday to push this program. When I do that I appear desperate and needy to make sales. Yuck! I hate that! So I didn’t push FYTO that much at all.

Takeaway: It takes more than one product to make an income online. But too many products can leave you feeling overwhelmed about what to sell when. So find a happy medium. In November I am going to try selling two programs, Find Your Tribe Online and The 30 Day Marketing Plan for Bloggers, and see how that works. Don’t be afraid to experiment when it comes to making money online. Put yourself out there and try it!

4. Lack of Promotion

I have to be honest with you, I didn’t do much promoting in October. I just. didn’t. feel. like. it. Put another way? I just didn’t wanna. I wasn’t in the mood to promote heavily. When I had time I was either writing, or thinking, or strategizing. I didn’t feel like promoting every day in Facebook groups. I didn’t feel like making sure all my pins were perfect. I just wasn’t in the mood.

Takeaway: I didn’t promote much this month and it shows in my numbers. I am okay with this. I didn’t feel like I worked as hard as I have in previous months. Blogging and earning money online is a journey, not a sprint and every once in awhile it is good to see that in action.

5. The Chicago Cubs

Did you hear? The Chicago Cubs broke their 108 year streak of not winning the World Series. Woo Hoo!!!! Now why is a die hard football lady like me writing about baseball?

So we spent the last two-and-a-half weeks watching the Cubs first beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS and then the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. Hand to heart I have not ever watched as much baseball as I did in those two weeks in my entire 37 years! It was a lot of baseball!

Many nights I was able to work while the game was on. But they were late nights which meant I sacrificed my mornings and getting up early. It also meant I was tired. A lot. It was incredible to watch the Cubs make a run at the pennant and win it all. The emotions in our house looked much like these photos of my husband during game 7 of the World Series:

But it did take a toll on my productivity. I wasn’t able to get everything done that I wanted to and I was often sluggish during the day.

Takeaway: Nothing! You know what? Life is so much more than blogging, online business, and making money. It is about the moments that take our breath away. Sharing this historic win with my husband was worth my blog not doing as well and me being tired. It was just awesome! Plus it was a moment that hasn’t happened in 108 years so it was worth celebrating!

Let’s Connect

Meet Jen

Hi I'm Jen: Wife to one great guy, mom to the best 3 crazies a woman could ask for and a business owner. My passion is to help women build and grow their online business, so they can have the flexibility to do the work they love while spending time with the people they love. Join in the conversation on my blog and learn how you can do just that!